Following your instincts

These experiments of Schachter and Singer are so profound. We feel sensations first, then afterwards come up with an explanation as to why we felt that way. Mostly the explanations we come up with are correct: it's pretty obvious that the knife stuck in my arm is the source of the pain I'm feeling, right?. But things get very interesting when we try to figure out the causes for more purely psychological pain or happiness - there's a lot of room to come up with explanations that just aren't true.

Religious experiences are a great example of this is. It's perhaps not at all surprising that people's conversion experiences usually occur during tumultuous events (lightning strikes, near-starvation, intense "collectively effervescent" ceremonies). The intense sensations caused by these natural events can, to a beleaguered soul, be easily misattributed to a divine source.

There is a great book on this subject written by a guy named William Proudfoot. In that book, entitled "Religious Experience", he discusses at great length what Schachter and Singer's experiments tell us about the process by which we identify things as "religious". Along with Freud's "Future of an Illusion" this book is one of the greatest works on the topic of belief.

So, yeah, great piece. I love entries that talk about IDEAS, and yours was about one of my all time favorite ideas. Bravo!

I like the story and you did a great job delivering it!

Jimmy
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Here, I'm speaking in the node:
http://www.publicradioquest.com/node/197
I made a tune for you the PRTQ!
http://jimmybearpearson.com/prtq.php.

This very much reminded me of Daniel Gilbert's book Stumbling on Happiness. I definitely enjoyed hearing about the study and you told the story well.

I would have enjoyed more of where you were going with trusting, or not, our feelings.

I feel of an Ira Glass vibe on that piece. You told that story perfectly, and are a storyteller. My problem is going to be what's your show going to be. My worry is this might be another knockoff of TAL. But truly, you have the talent to go far.

Fascinating! How utterly fascinating. I hope this story was true! I amazed you got it all in 120 seconds. Bravo!

Love & Rockets,
DaBomb
http://www.burncast.net