Ritual

Recently I attended a church service. As I sat there absorbing the familiar and unfamiliar, I became increasingly aware of the rituals that were taking place. A large group of people kneeling, heads bowed, and hands locked together, crossing themselves and repeating incantations. Religious ritual is an odd thing to observe when you are no longer participating, and as an atheist I haven’t participated for 19 years. So I sat there in my elevated position of observer and absorbed the rituals, perhaps even chuckling to myself about the ridiculous nature of ‘ritual’.

Gem asked me after what I made of the ceremony and I think I was rather offhand saying something like ‘Bizarre’, believing myself to be above the ‘flock’. Of course on reflection I’m a mass of contradictions. An atheist who still asks his dear departed mum to pull a few strings upstairs, and just as prone to a form of ritual (in it’s loosest sense) as those who recite the rosary. You see I can't desist from attaching significance to the number 32 (despite my best efforts). Logically I can see that one number cannot have any greater significance over another, and that the observed patterns I have found in the 'power of thirty two' are merely as a result of selective attention. Yet I still find myself occasionally going through a form of numerical ritual despite knowing that it in no way fits in with my rationalist perspective. So why do I and so many others need to carry out this type of behaviour?

Human ritual finds it routes in non-human ritualized signalling. Non-human displays communicate important information regarding the condition, status, and intent of the sender and are often concerned with competition and receiver signals. Think of the elaborate animal displays such as the mating dance of the Peacock. Animal behaviourists and evolutionary psychologists suggest that the more complex and costly (energy) the signal the more ‘honest’ and reliable the message. Durkeheim and more recently other evolutionary anthropologists have proposed that religious behaviours constitute costly signals, e.g. constraint on sex, food, marriage, and that these rituals contribute to social cohesion. The more costly the signal, the more honest the message of group commitment. Perhaps a suicide bomber makes the most honest signal of his commitment to his group, though I can’t see how that level of signal honesty could benefit his continued position in the group.

Cognitive psychology now throws light on the physical effects of these rituals: Like the signals of non-human ritual, those of religious ritual have been shown to produce neurophysiological responses in humans. However the difference between non-human and human ritual is that the fundamental elements of human religious ritual are, ‘abstract symbols devoid of inherent emotional or cognitive meaning.’ (Alcorta and Sosis, 2004). The conclusion must therefore be that emotional responses to these symbols are learnt. I guess it doesn’t take a cognitive scientist to point these things out - Cliff Richard (still a sex symbol to some) strikes fear into the hearts of many, but we surely weren’t born fearing Cliff? I wasn’t, I used to quite like him.

The neurophysiological effect of carrying out these rituals and the process of learning to physically respond to them, is an area that is apparently still under researched but there is evidence to show significant positive associations between religious participation and individual health. Studies have demonstrated decreased mental and physical health risks, faster recovery times for a variety of disorders, and longer life for those who regularly attend weekly religious services, (let’s put aside the millions who have died in religious wars).

It isn’t my intention to offend those who have faith and participate in religious ceremonies. I know from my own experience what a powerful feeling it is to be part of a collective act of worship and certainly the rituals I observed as a Christian helped to enhance that experience. However I think it’s interesting that very few of ask ourselves why we do these things. I asked today and got an interesting answer from the scientists and I can see now that my numerical incantations are not rituals, insofar that they are not part of a customary observance used to signal group commitment. More that they are a kind of obsessive twitch!

Perhaps if I were to create a new religion around the number 32 then I could share my rituals with you and we could join in a collective act of worship and all feel better for it! I can see it now: ‘The Halls of 32’, the calculator shaped pendants, the hymns, and the funny walk.