This weekend my friends and I watched Bohemian Rhapsody. I couldn’t help but notice some of my friends experiencing a change in behavior, almost like the transition in mindset that many experience while meditating. After I asked them what happened to them while watching the movie. Most asked back “You couldn’t feel it?” and I could but I was curious about what they meant by it and one compared it to going to church, without any prompting. This lead to me questioning them more of what do they feel and how it affects them. The common answer was “It just makes me feel full” or “its just that feeling no one can name.” Something that I think is a key aspect of religion is filling that want to experience the unexplainable and a part of it is using religion to give it a name. I continued to ask about what parts of the movie sparked these undefinable feelings and it broke down to either was when Freddy was going through hardship and overcoming it or when music was playing. These are two key things in story telling and favorite story types. Everyone loves a redemption arch and there has always been magical sense about music that inspires and forces us to experience a wide range of emotions. While working on my congregation visit I made a key point about the music that was being used and many of the stories from religions follow the redemption arch or the from suffering comes greatness arch. I think the “undefinable” feeling that most people experience is just good story telling followed up by strategically timed music.
One thought on “How to define the feeling behind Religion”
Comments are closed.
Music really does capture the emotions when words fail us. I would also contend part of that “undefinable” feeling you talk about comes from our own wishes to be braver and better than we are—consistently pushing us to our limits.