What does it feel like to worship?

[axordil]

Everything from kneeling to fasting to staring into the flame to drumming to intense prayer to meditative technique is a mechanical aid to getting into the right frame of mind. The MRIs show that now. That isn't an aspersion--very few people are so in tune with imminence, with the divine, that they can just shift in and out at will.

[MithLuin]

Does anyone think "worship" is this?

Or is that just a mechanical aid to getting into the right frame of mind?

I've been thinking about this question. I'm not sure I have an answer, though . Basically, I've never used that emoticon. While I certainly think people have great posts, and appreciate reading what they have to say....that isn't how I express it.

There is...something to it. I would not feel comfortable using that emoticon for a person. To me...the idea it expresses is, somehow, reserved for God. There is a level of showing respect - bowing, nodding, clapping, etc - that is completely appropriate to show to other people. But the idea behind this little guy:
...is just something different.

I don't take it the wrong way when other people use it. I mean, I know what you all mean - "hey, great post!" or "that blew me away" or "you're so clever and articulate." Even "wow, I was completely wrong, and I agree with everything you just said." I just...couldn't express those ideas with that picture. Does that make any sense?


Because I have that reaction, I don't think the physical actions are just a mechanical aid. Meaning, getting down on my knees...means something. And sure, you could kneel and not "mean it." You could be a million miles away, and just be going through the motions. So, it's not the action alone or anything. But the action is meaningful, not arbitrary. I've noticed a difference in singing worship songs just standing there, and singing them while raising my hands. Even if it's the same song, it's not the same to me. My actions add meaning to what I am doing...does that make sense?

All I am trying to say is that actions "say" something, just as words do. You can be insincere with actions (as well as words), but that doesn't mean there is no true meaning. So, yes, worship is ... but it isn't just that.

[PrinceAlarming]

Worship for me is whatever eases the pain I feel inside. I can do it with a room of people or alone on a lake in a row boat. I worship when/if I go to a meeting house or alone in the morning with a cup of coffee.

Worship for me is giving thanks to the universe for what I have by remembering how much worse it can always get... It's remembering how insignificant and small we really are, and how beautiful that is.

Also, it's remebering that life itself is some sort of amazing fluke of nature.

Worship feels like being enlightened. It feels like when you figure out some complex puzzle, that singular moment of 'getting it'. Except with worship, it lasts longer, and I smile.

[The_Hutter]

I am with the Prince on this one that is what worship is

and secondary


I am the man