Clarification Through Carissa

This post is in response to Carissa's post on the effects of music/emotions on groups of people.

In this post Carissa concludes that:

"So what does this mean? I'm not really sure, but here are a few possibilities. Humans are naturally group-oriented and therefore feel good when they're in groups. This would explain why so many religions include community as a core element. Or, it might just be that music unites people (like Catrina said). However, this could be because it allows people to find something that they all share so that they have a common goal and can therefore feel united. We all have emotions, and if music produces emotions, then it's something that can be that common ground."

Reading this paragraph really helped me understand how to better articulate the point that I made in class on the community building aspects of Quaker style meditation. I believe that, while music may be a plentiful example, religious community building can be based on nearly any unique, shared experience. While the community bonds are not instantly visible, they are strengthened through repeated occurrences (weekly meetings for example). While our not talking in class for the first 20 minutes was not altogether unique (as was pointed out in our discussion), the fact that we were simply instructed to do whatever we wanted silently while the professor did the same... was unique. And even though we may not all have come out of this experience feeling connected to one another, the beginnings of those bonds were laid down.

Maybe this is just as confusing as the time I tried to explain this in class, but unique experiences are like that strange teeth whitening stuff that people buy at Walgreens, its effect is not visible until it has been repeatedly used. This lack of visible change does not mean that nothing is happening....