Collective Effervescence

Thanks to Natalie Hunter for offering this guest post about Collective Effervescence. Natalie is based in Seattle and writes for Online Schools. Here she goes...

Collective Effervescence and the Ritual of Play

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, French sociologist Emile Durkheim contributed greatly to the study of people and our relationships in groups. One of the most important theories he contributed was that of collective effervescence, and how it explains the origins of our desire to commune and connect to each other through ritual, play and sacred gatherings. Why is play important, and what role does it have in our adult lives?

History of Collective Effervescence

Before we discuss the rituals of play, let's first understand the meaning of collective effervescence. The most complete definition describes it as a “perceived energy formed by the gathering of people as might be experienced at a religious service, sporting event, carnival or riot.” The presence of this perceived energy makes people behave differently than in their daily lives. Durkheim first outlined the theory of collective effervescence in his 1912 book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Durkheim studied the basis of religion in a tribe of Australian Aborigines and the separation of the everyday work of their lives - the profane - from the sacred rituals they performed together.

thanks to Aboriginal Art Store for the picture

Recent Developments in Collective Effervescence

The experience of collective effervescence has been shown to help us relate to others and create a stronger sense of community and shared purpose, improving mental health. For example, a University of Chicago study gathered evidence suggesting that suicide rates were lower than average among groups who actively shared common beliefs, and pointed to the potential role of collective effervescence through group rituals in this relationship. 

Although the theory originally illustrated the purpose and influence of group worship, it also can be stretched more widely to describe the same experiences in group activities and events.

How does a theory about worship and ritual relate to why we play? We share, perhaps, a fundamental need to connect with others, not just in the daily transactions of our lives but also in more profound ways. Many people associate the word play with childhood and do not see a direct correlation or need in our adult lives. A look back at our history, however, finds that people of all ages play, and that play is a form of ritual that taps into a deeper human experience. In her book Deep Play, Diane Ackerman describes play in its purest form as an experience of "collective exaltation," or as rapture or ecstasy. When we play together, having fun in large groups, it brings us joy and makes us feel connected.

thanks to the Autralian Institute for Applied Spiritual Technology for this picture of Kirtan

Consider the massive appeal of team sports across the world. Every fan knows the rules and rituals of the game, and anyone who has ever attended a sporting event can attest to the frenzied high that exists among thousands of cheering and screaming fans. 

thanks to The Guardian for the picture

Many adults participate in formal and informal leagues and teams, volunteer groups and/or religious gatherings. The rituals and traditions associated with forms of play like this bond us together in a common experience, one that can transcend the mundane routines of daily life. When people volunteer in a group, whether in building a Habitat for Humanity house or serving in a soup kitchen, they tend to feel connected to the other volunteers and can feel almost giddy afterwards. Other group activities such as workouts like Zumba or Yoga, have the potential to be a place where adults can express themselves through play and experience the joy of collective effervescence.

The famous Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi captured our need for play and ritual when he said "Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." Our society, and our world, functions because of our need to seek the sacred in life – that sense found in the company of others. That desire for the rules and rituals of play, of coming together to experience that collective exaltation, makes our world a better place – and we are better for it.

'Il n'ya pas de mouvement sans rhythm'

Joy and Sorrow

Rachel Kessler was an author and facilitator.

“As we attempt to invite joy into the [situation],” she writes, “we must always hold these two paradoxes: the coexistence of light and shadow; and the joy that may be intimately associated with pain, fear or even anger. Perhaps the word ‘poignant’ best captures this quality of joy.”

A dig into Kessler’s work and writing reveals compelling ideas and approaches. She’s author of the Soul of Education and founder of the Passageworks Institute that runs social and emotional learning programmes in US schools.

“I don’t think I experienced real joy,” she writes, “until I was 34 years old. ... I knew that from that moment on, my life was about discovering and expanding the joy in my own life and in the people I touch. … In the weeks that followed, the word spirit emerged from my mind. I did not know what it meant, since I had experienced no religious upbringing… My encounter with joy had awakened my spirit.”

When we go into that space of joy and what we might call ‘spirit’, Rachel has found, we often find all sorts of things other than joy.

“If we focus on joy, images of suffering may rear up and even take over. So often when I ask students or teachers to think of a positive story, several are flooded first with sad memories; when I ask students to think of their gratitude, they can remember only what they want to complain about.” (Kessler, Soul of Education, 2000 p73 – 80).

In The Healing Wisdom of Africa, Malidoma Some expresses a similar relationship between joy and sorrow in the Dagara culture of Burkina Faso.

“Villagers gauge the amount of grief that is built up in them by the barometer of their joy. When emotion has been fully unloaded, the rush of joy that fills you up can last for days or weeks. When that feeling of joy subsides, grief is again building up and will soon require another release.”

He argues that we need regular opportunities to release our grief so that we may experience again the joy that resides behind it.

This suggests that joy lives in the heart and soul, tangled up with many other feelings. Practices that open up the heart and soul, by implication, need to be ready to accept and welcome all that may be found there.

By extension, “Joy ok, sadness not allowed” may be a superficial proposition which is neither useful, effective, attractive nor realistic.

Peak Experience

My boss is interested in peak experience. He wonders if there is a recipe.

"You will search in vain for a Maslovian recipe to create peak experiences," writes life coach and 'philosophical counsellor' Tim Lebon.  "The reason is explained in Colin Wilson's New Pathways in Psychology (page 19).  Wilson asked Maslow whether you can create peak experiences at will.

"No, Or almost entirely no!", Maslow asserted. " In general, we are "Surprised by Joy".. Peaks come unexpectedly .... You can't count on them.  And hunting them is like hunting happiness. c's best not done directly. It comes as a by-product, an epiphenomenon, for instance, of doing a fine job at a worthy task you can identify with".

"Colin Wilson  thinks the above is only partly true. He thinks they have a structure that can be duplicated (p. 21). The preconditions are energy, vigilance, alertness, preparedness.

"The fact that the full text of Religions, Values and Peak Experiences is to be found in the Psychedelic Library suggests another possible way to have peak experiences ...  The current author would suggest that creativity, love, contact with nature, sport, meditation, parenting are other possible sources of peak experiences. There is also a connection worth exploring between peak experiences and flow, and between peak experiences and the writings of Viktor Frankl."

Let's Celebrate 365

Jeremy Hunter has spent 35 years documenting ancient rituals and festivals in 60 countries. His photographs can be seen in his touring exhibition Let's Celebrate 365.

"Sing-sings in Papua New Guinea form an important part of cultural life as they represent an opportunity for the clans to express their tribal solidarity. I saw the black snake dance performed by the Apenda clan when they attended a sing-sing in Leh, near Morobe." The Guardian 

See his website for more.

Rites of Life

"Everywhere people mark the decisive moments when they pass from one stage in life to another. For more than seven years photographer Anders Ryman has travelled the world documenting such rituals.

"His ambition has been to span all inhabited continents, all major religions and all stages of life, encompassing both the traditional and the modern."

www. ritesoflife.com

Stuart Brown's properties of play

from Play, p17:

“Properties of play:

Apparently purposeless (done for its own sake)

Voluntary

Inherent attraction

Freedom from time

Diminished consciousness of self

Improvisational potential (“we aren't locked into a rigid way of doing things. We are open to serendipidy, to chance.”)

Continuation desire [it makes you want to do more of it]"