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Religion And Ecstasy: The Role Of Music In Religion

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Music has played a major role in religion and the spirituality of humans from the beginnings of society to today. The effect that music has on humankind is a phenomenon that can channel power, bring harmony to society, calm or enrage the masses, and take a listener on a euphoric journey like no other. Music is an essential part in religious ceremonies, birth, re-birth, spiritually altered states (trance), and even death. Music is the connection between the human soul and the path to an individual’s spiritual ecstasy. Religions of the past and of oral people, give an insight into the spiritual connections that can be attained through music. Native Americans use three traditional instruments and their voice to create hauntingly complex rhythms that, “imitate the life-giving processes of nature and celebrate the wholeness of the universe.” (Editors, 1992, p. 29) The flute that they use has six holes that correspond to the four cardinal directions and the earth and sky. The drum represents the, …show more content…
The prayers often last all night long and are used to invoke the gods. They are a fixed set of words that are to be chanted loudly, commonly referred to as mantras. Some mantras have no actual meaning but, “like the magic formula, “abracadabra,” they have a ritual or mystical function.” (Michaels, 2004, p. 229) Hinduism has a wide variety of beliefs, one of them being the Bhakti, the way of devotion. The Bhakti way doesn’t focus so much on the independent powers or forces so much as the idea of ritualism and spiritualism. These ideas of ritualism and spiritualism hold music in high esteem. Believing that music, along with dance, can take a believer into a euphoric state, which leads to being able to ask a god for help. The Hindus religious and spiritual connections to their god, or gods, are enhanced when conducting rituals that incorporate

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