The Holy Spirit and Affect Theory

I'm interested in a discussion of the Pentecostal religious experience of being "suffused with the Holy Spirit" from the point of view of Affect Theory. Specifically the phenomenon you see at large religious revivals in which religious leaders work the crowd up into a frenzy and then go out and touch individuals who fall to the ground in paroxysms of emotion. Although considered to be a positive experience, it appears to involve rather extreme levels of distress/anguish - agonized wailing, flailing around, convulsions, fainting, etc. However, participants believe the strange emotional and physical manifestations are a gift or a message from God and consider them wonderful and not at all frightening or painful.

My interest is in discussing the basic emotional process of this experience. I'm not a therapist (I work for a child and adolescent mental health services research team as a program coordinator) but from my inexpert point of view it suggests a process similar to my understanding of mania (with psychosis?). In his article in this forum "Bipolar Affective Illness and Shame", 7/26/96, Don Nathanson talked about mania as being an upregulation of the affect interest/excitement and concomitant susceptibility to shame. However, there does not seem to be any shame involved in the religious experience unless you count the experience of "humility before God" (which is also considered a positive experience). Please note that I'm not claiming that there is something pathological about religious experiences, just trying to explore .

My understanding of Affect Theory is that all psychological phenomenon share a limited number of common pathways ("hardware" and "firmware") which are interpreted by, interact with and, to some extent, are regulated by scripts ("software"). Pathology exists when biological abnormalities occur in the "hardware" or "firmware" or "software" is developed that produce dysregulation, particularly too much of one of the negative affects or increased interference with positive affect (shame). Is the affective process in this type of religious experience (and other mystical experiences?) the same process that occurs in mania but due to software rather than hardware? If shame is avoided, as it seems to be in the religious experience, is "abnormally" extended interest/excitement and enjoyment/joy desirable and beneficial? Obviously, this is not the case when interest/excitement and enjoyment/joy is artificially enhanced with stimulants.

This may be a cynical view, but one outcome of this type of religious experience is that people become very susceptible to suggestion, e.g., giving all their money to the preachers (or is it that, in order to have the experience, one must already be very susceptible to suggestion?) What affect or script (or combination) makes one most susceptible to being taken in?

Well, I don't know if I've presented a particularly logical framework for discussion, but I hope to hear some other views on this issue. I'd also be interested in a more general discussion of personality, affect and religion.

One last comment - I am not an unreligious person. I am rather inclined to believe that it is possible for a spiritual experience to transcend the limitations of our physical bodies - including the affect system. However, that doesn't make it any less interesting to analyze these experiences from the viewpoint of Affect Theory.

• Affect within religious experience by Don Nathanson, 6/7/98
  • More questions by Sharon Willoughby, 6/8/98
• Affect in Pentecostal Worship by David McShane, 6/10/98
  • David, part of your post got lost by Sharon Willoughby, 6/12/98
• Pentecostal Worship by David W.McShane, 6/20/98
  • Incomplete message above by Dave McShane, 6/21/98
    • David, would you e-mail me? by Sharon, 6/22/98
• PENTECOSTAL SPIRIT by Sharon Willoughby for David McShane, 6/29/98
• Thank You for Your Questions by Chuck Yopst, 7/21/98