After reading the answers to the question The edge of faith and the limit of Theism, "the spiritual blindness", I am intrigued by the observation that not all Christians report 'spiritual experiences' with God, or at least not with much regularity. For example, the author of this answer attests to only rarely having had experiences of this kind:
I became a Christian in August 1979. Since then, I have rarely 'experienced' anything 'spiritual' in the sense you seem to mean. For example, only this afternoon, visiting a Christian friend, we concluded with a time of open prayer in her house. At the end she said, "Oh, I really felt the presence of the Lord in the room as we prayed. It gave me the shivers" (in a nice way). I said, "Well, I didn't sense anything, but - then - I rarely do! I can walk into a room of people where (they say) you could cut the air with a knife, but I'm oblivious to all of that." She added that God gives people different gifts, and that somewhat explains the difference between us. She is sensitive to things I am not.
Similarly, this other answer states:
Not every individual, neurotypical or not, feels metaphysical elements to any appreciable degree while living out their faith in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit of God, which indwells those who have received Christ Jesus and believe on his name, operates thus:
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. - John 3:8
Some are enabled by the Spirit to live out a very practical, 'non-mystical' life of faith wherein the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) is manifest apart from any notable "spiritual experience". Often it is others who are more aware of a special quality within such a one than that one herself.
In contrast, Tanya Luhrmann conducted an ethnographic study of American Evangelical Christians that she details in her book When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God:
A bold approach to understanding the American evangelical experience from an anthropological and psychological perspective by one of the country's most prominent anthropologists. Through a series of intimate, illuminating interviews with various members of the Vineyard, an evangelical church with hundreds of congregations across the country, Tanya Luhrmann leaps into the heart of evangelical faith. Combined with scientific research that studies the effect that intensely practiced prayer can have on the mind, When God Talks Back examines how normal, sensible people—from college students to accountants to housewives, all functioning perfectly well within our society—can attest to having the signs and wonders of the supernatural become as quotidian and as ordinary as laundry. Astute, sensitive, and extraordinarily measured in its approach to the interface between science and religion, Luhrmann's book is sure to generate as much conversation as it will praise.
Is there a theory within Christianity that explains this striking diversity in 'spiritual experiences' (or lack thereof) among Christians?
Note: I have been told in the comments that this question can lead to highly polarized answers. Considering this, I would like to receive answers written in an objective, neutral tone presenting an overview of the main theories in dispute, in an attempt to cover the main views in this contentious topic (which I've been told has a high overlap with the cessationism/continuationism debate).
