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Proselytizing: And other Emotional Energy Drains

by Stephen Cocconi

I can't stand it. The abstraction of my soul and how God interacts with it is my business. Religion or spirituality is something that should be sought out by the individual, not sold or marketed to them.

However, there is a key element of communication here to be noticed: there method is to keep you talking, and therefore engaged. Then, the wearing down begins. As long as someone has you talking, they have your attention. It is up to you to decide what to do next. Mirror, Break-off entirely, engage them in debate, or tell them off. In the first two instances, you experience the greatest chance of preserving your own energy.

Religion stands as the single abstraction of creation that can generate the greatest amount of "intense" emotion of any kind. It plays upon the structure of family and exaggerates issues of love, loyalty, duty, obedience, responsibility and power in the hierarchy. For those who actively proselytize the motivation is always the same: tremendous approval. Even if that approval is an internal sense of personal validation of worth, which at the bottom of all external sources of motivation seek to press this button within the heart of the individual.

Redemption is the payoff. But not the redemption of sins or forgiveness of a higher power, though the word and the promised achievement aims to convince, no the real redemption lies in the person having an emotional experience that temporarily relieves them of the guilt or shame that they hold about their lives. For each "testimonial" the exhilaration of a rapturous and righteous experience stimulates those brain chemicals associated with pleasure, and the reinforcement of confidence of being on the right side of an idea or argument. Proselytizing is a bit like being at the amusement park and exchanging your money (allegiance or time) to the act of membership, and exchanging it for the tokens of neuro-chemicals that can be redeemed for a spot in some far off heaven.

Proselytizing is not just the chosen method of religious zealots alone. Heck, any extreme or emotionally changed fanatical belief system can darn this strategy. Republican, Democrat, Al-Qaeda, NFL fan, NRA, Right-to-Life, New Age, Earth First, Dr. Phil Fan's, you name it. Driven by enough monetary or power incentives, it can be simulated and transferred to the marketplace as well. Advertising is the psychological application of proselytizing. The message is sent, not by a person, at the door, the booth, or the meeting place, but by carefully orchestrated images and words in a disembodied and ubiquitous medium.

All forms of proselytizing have but one end, to substitute words for real deeds. These words and trappings describe, but usually fail to deliver, those promised deeds, feeling, or outcomes. We can't only religion to blame today, however. Sports teams, product loyalties, and political parties all use the same tactics to get your buy-in! In the long run, any message using proselytizing is not bad or wrong; it is merely more interested in converts than progress. » Return to the Articles Page