Metaphors of the mind
Why do people think that sins "feel dirty?" Why do we use the phrase "cold shoulder" to describe someone rejecting us? Chen-Bo Zhong, a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Toronto, researches these "metaphors of the mind" and the physicalization of abstract thoughts. More recently, he's studying how not thinking about a problem can lead to creative solutions to that emerging more easily. From Scientific American:
What are some other examples of how seemingly abstract thoughts, such as feeling excluded, can have physical manifestations?Metaphors of the Mind (SciAm)
ZHONG: Another example would be the relation between morality and physical cleanliness. In my early work “Washing Away Your Sins: Threatened Morality and Physical Cleansing” in collaboration with Katie Liljenquist [a professor of organizational behavior at Brigham Young University], we discussed how metaphors such as “dirty hands” or “clean records” may have a psychological basis such that people make sense of morality through physical cleanliness.
When people’s moral self image is threatened, as when they think about their own unethical past behaviors, people literally experience the need to engage in physical cleansing, as if the moral stain is literally physical dirt. We tested this idea in multiple studies and showed that when reminded of their past moral transgressions, people were more likely to think about cleansing-related words such as “wash” and “soap”, expressed stronger preference for cleansing products (for instance, a soap bar), and were also more likely to accept an antiseptic wipe as a free gift (rather than a pencil with equal value).
Further, physical cleansing may actually be effective in mentally getting rid of moral sins. In another study, in which participants who recalled unethical behaviors were either given a chance to cleanse their hands or not, we found that washing hands not only assuaged moral emotions such as guilt and regret but also reduced participants’ willingness to engage in prosocial behaviors such as volunteering Thus physical washing can actually wash away sins. Perhaps this effect is why most world religions practice some form of washing rituals to purify souls. We should be cautious, however, knowing that if our sins are so easily “washed away” we might not be as motivated to engage in actual compensatory behaviors to make up for our mistakes.
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Yeah, I totally agree with Zhong on this one.
I think there is may be some metaphysical truth to the idea that water can purify us. I’m sure that idea is all based on some sort of human need to mystify the universe around us. Personally I like wash my sins away with mercury and dark energy un-light therapy. I'm old fashioned that way.
FWIW, I think "cold shoulder" actually refers to a cold shoulder of meat given to unwanted guests instead of a hot meal. I recall reading that in a book called Tenderfeet and Ladyfingers long ago.
Wow.
Ever since I had a stroke, I have problems recognizing and producing humor. When I see something funny, sometimes, but most of the times not, I get the sensation of it being funny; hard laughing is something very rare to me.
Also when I try to produce humor, it's sometimes as if the final though of the pun/joke/etc just vanishes from my brain. I strongly believe that coming up with jokes is related to what he describes as bringing up creativity while focusing on something unrelated; it seems that either that mechanism itself or the transferal into the consciousness is broken for me.
I'm sure if i asked my therapist, she'd think otherwise, though ;) I undergo therapy not because of the direct consequences of the stroke, but because dealing with being 95% humorless is very, very hard.
And yes this is not a troll, it's really what happened.
Lady Macbeth, "Out, damned spot! out, I say!" - Shakespeare had the complex interrelations between physical and spiritual cleansing pretty well nailed. Also, this neatly extends George Lakoff's work (linguistics, _Metaphors We Live By_ with Mark Turner, and _Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things_, not his recent political stuff) on metaphors describing emotional states with physical aspects "Anger is Heat" (red in the face, blowing off steam, blow your top, fiery response, etc) to complete the loop of physical resolutions to emotional states.
I think this relates to the recent article on the messy house. We are just as likely to make moral judgments about the physically messy or dirty as we are to feel dirty when we've acted immorally.
A great deal of cleaning is ritual or religious in nature, rather than being motivated by health or other practical concerns.
Wow, talk about a categorical error
The religioos practice of ablutions is (was?) first and foremost a metaphor - how can one achieve the divine if one is not pure of spirit, that is, if one is spiritually unclean?
Ritual washing before prayer reminds the supplicant of their need to purify their minds, their thoughts, before they commune with their divinity.
It is only highly structured, highly literal organizations that have latterly corrupted this metaphor, interpreting it as literal uncleanliness.
And it is only in a society brainwashed into believing of sin as some sort of literal stain (believing in sin at all, come to think of it), that such gross interpretive errors could be made by supposedly reputable scientists.
Yes, I'm sure some "sinners" do feel dirty. Why? Because their mothers and fathers and ministers, people who supposedly love them, have guilt-tripped them into believing that they are somehow sinful and tawdry and defiled.
Well, duh.
What's next? Research suggesting that people are more likely to lie in contexts where they believe themselves to be detached from responsibility and at some remove from others? Email, perhaps?
If that ever happens, perish the thought, it'll be another duh-day on Planet Earth.
I'd like to test this prediction: messy people are less likely than normal people to respond positively to "cleansing" after a moral transgression induction.
Wow, I'm enjoying this post. I've been ruminating and studying this and on related subjects for a while now.
The original term "syn" was an archery term that meant "missing the mark." Catholic theology contends that the supernatural is based on the natural (life processes). They're inseparable and impact each other. This means that there's no metaphor or merely symbolic ritual here, but a physical reality which is extended outward and vise versa.
If I agree with this theology and consider God's "bullseye" to be "all physical processes that are central to supporting natural (physical) life", then any given thought and / or its resulting act can be measured on a spectrum ranging from life-giving ("on target") to life-alienating.
Therefore, the further I travel from the center, the "less natural" I actually am. I literally would be acting with less than my full potential to participate in life itself and it follows that I would sense that physically. Confession (reconciliation) and the subsequent acts of penance and communion would result in bringing me back into accord with that center of life, which I also would experience physically.
George Lakoff got there years ago. 'Metaphors we live by' dealt with similar issues 30 years ago, nearly.
Great read, and well worth picking up.
For those interested in the interplay of metaphorical reasoning and morality, consider
Moral Politics and Philosophy in the Flesh
fwiw, Zhong does cite Lakoff in the Washing Away Your Sins: Threatened Morality and Physical Cleansing.
It's another form of synaesthesia, where the acid trippers see sounds or mix senses.
Our first contact with the words 'Good' and 'Bad' are often as infants, and used in the context of food, not morality. I wonder if this explains why we feel emotions like guilt in our gut?
Perhaps the "employees must wash hands before returning to work" signs in restaurant bathrooms should be augmented with a big red flashing sign reading "WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID!"
Health code violations would plummet
#9, Sean:
The Online Etymology Dictionary suggests that this is not the case.
Do you have a good reference for the archery origin?
Why do we use the phrase "cold shoulder" to describe someone rejecting us?
Because you had hot shoulder of lamb last night which was wonderful but I wish you'd leave so it's cold shoulder of lamb this morning. Which is fatty, greasy and deeply unpleasant. Dates to about the 14th century in England.
#14-Beanolini-Thank You! :
I love the Online Ent Dict. I did take your comment seriously and did look into it as much as I had time for yesterday.
I could not find the exact place I read this (about a year ago), and my memory was that I had found this in the Online Ent. Dict, or the New Adventist (Online Catholic Dictionary) because I use both a lot. I'm feeling frustrated because I'm not even meeting my own standards with this reference. I feel grateful that you pressed me on it.
I did find several references that (vaguely / unsubstantiated) take it back to the Greek. I also found references that asserted what I did without adequate backup for the term. I also found a detractor who said that it was a popular sermon (Christian & Jewish) talking point which had proliferated despite the word reference being dubious.
So, in my judgement, the jury is out on the actual word origin, and despite the possible illegitimacy of the actual archery term "syn", "synn", or synne", I still enjoy the metaphor. Sadly, without the term, it kind of sucks the power out of the metaphor.
Here's the pages I came across:
http://www.theopedia.com/Talk:Sin
http://djctoronto.com/explore/s_missing.php
http://www.kevindhendricks.com/2002/07/15/missing-the-mark/
http://forums.crosswalk.com/m_277840/mpage_22/tm.htm
http://www.sparckint.com/articles/sin.html
#16, Sean:
Since writing my comment, I've also found a number of webpages that suggest that the word 'Satan' was based on an similar archery term. (Again, the Online Etymology Dictionary disagrees, suggesting 'adversary' as the original meaning; in line with what I was taught at school).
Your theopedia reference is interesting, suggesting that confusion may have arisen between the etymology of English 'sin' and the Greek 'hamartia', which may indeed derive from a term related to 'missing the mark'.
It's certainly easy to imagine an educated 19th century preacher using a metaphor based on Ancient Greek, and being misunderstood by his congregation...
Beanolini,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. Meets my need for integrity.
-Sean