9. Emoción

(Emotion)

Dr. Eric Jensen, in his book 'The Learning Brain' defines 'emotions' as "biologically driven, cross-cultural responses to environmental stimuli [...] Emotions are cross-cultural - the same all over the world. Feeling are a subset of all of our mind-body states (disappointment, hunger, hope, etc. There are hundreds of them!). Feelings are a learned response in the culture in which you grow up (the family, the peers, the community, etc.)"

Corrigan is in agreement with this defnition of ‘emotion’. He says, “Emotion is not theorized as an unconditioned, essential phenomenon, but as the aspect of human experience that is constituted in the ongoing, every day perfeormance of social life” (Corrigan 2004, 11). He goes on to assert that emotions are the result of a person’s engagement with complex social codes that govern aspects of a society (ex: authority, status, and relationality) and inter-personal relationships. Corrigan holds that an emotion is given meaning by a culture – that is, it is “made normative through “feeling rules” that dictate the proper linkages between social experiences and emotional states” (Corrigan 2004, 11). I disagree. I would dare assert that it is the expression of this emotion that is ruled by external forces (societal norms), not the emotion itself. Of course this means that for the purpose of my own writing, I am going to adopt a blatant disregard for emotion-feeling distinction and treat, like the early modern Spaniards, 'emotion' and 'feeling' as equivalent entities (Christian 2004, 39).

This week’s topic is a real treat for me as it provides me with the jargon that I will need to pursue my own field of research, while drawing on my education in the field of psychology. In response to the question of whether or not I can see myself applying an analysis of emotion to my field of research, the answer is simply yes. My study of the Purity Ball ritual and the psychology behind it would have not foothold in the study of religion, proper, if it weren’t for the emotional lens through which religion can now be studied.

To have emotion is inherently human. However, not all humans may come with the same set of emotions, or the same ability to experience emotions. For instance, those without a fully developed prefrontal cortex (i.e. psychopaths and children until the age of 18-21) are unable to comprehend or express certain emotions, like grief or empathy that most fully physiologically developed humans are capable of experiencing. That being said, for the most part, common emotions are universally recognizable. There are certain indicators of emotion that transcend cultural barriers, such as smiling when happy, crying in the face of high stress situations (both positive and negative), etc. So, if emotion is inherently human and humans are the performers of religious ritual, then aren’t emotion and religion inextricably tied? Like the expression of emotion itself though, this tie between religion and emotion can also take on many forms.

My research, as previously mentioned, deals primarily with psychology. This means that I deal with emotion on a very basic level – it is a very real part of my research and not a tangential aspect of my work. I see emotion as a product of psychology – both individual and societal. Hence, emotion to me is a valid lens of study for the religious performance. I don’t see it as non-empirical (I’m tempted to say ‘wishy-washy’) at all. Psychology shows us that humans have predetermined physiological wiring (hardware) that is built to experience certain emotion (software, if you will). This ‘hardware’ includes such things as neurons, neurotransmitters, hormone receptors and inhibitors, etc. The cues that trigger an emotional response may be societal, and hence subjective, but the structures are already in place to support the cues if and when they may arrive.

Coming to my own research into the ritual phenomenon of Purity Balls…
Partaking in this ritual offers the young female participants a sense of pride, a feeling of moral superiority, and a feeling of uniqueness. These emotions are contrasted starkly against those that are felt when a young girl ‘succumbs’ to sexual desires, because failing to uphold the conditions of the purity pledge comes with emotions of guilt, shame, failure, and a general letting down of one’s father, one’s god, and one’s community. While these visceral reactions are observable by me (an outsider), I am forced to wonder about the unobservable emotions that come into play during this ritual. It is these emotional experiences that I am most interested – the doubt (about the pledge itself), the fear (of failing to uphold the pledge’s stipulations), the feeling of being creeped out (at the notion of pretty much marrying one’s father and the incestuous connotations that this comes with). I also want to source out the emotions of the maternal figure in this ritual performance because there seems to no presence of a mater figure in this religious drama; this leads me to think that the maternal emotional narrative is not one that is endorsed by the religious organization that promotes the ritual of Purity Balls.

I supposed I’ve gone off a wee bit. My point is that emotion has a very real place in the aspects of religion that I am interested in. It’s not the ‘what’ of religion I seek – it’s the ‘why’. Therein lies the rub emotion!