Very interesting and enlightening. I must say I’m still not sure what’s actually going on, (psychologically/physiologically speaking) but there are many things in this world that defy explanation.

I really don’t know what it is. It is nearly effortless. You can do it in your mind and still listen to someone else speak. I’ve tested it, I can do it quietly under my breath (so it is clear that I’m not just THINKING I’m doing it) and then relate to you everything that was being said to me by another while I was doing it, within the bounds of normal memory of course. It seems to ‘develop’ meaning that the more you do it, it seems like the more sounds you can make without effort (the believers speak of that as your spirit getting stronger, or the holy spirit within you getting stronger). Whatever it is, it isn’t done with your conscious mind. People can pretend to do it, we see comedians, etc., pretending to speak some other language, but then it tends to be monotonous, with only a few sounds being repeated. I do not believe that can be called speaking in tongues, it requires too much effort.

I can sort of read while I do it, but not nearly so successfully as listening to speech. I think I’m actually going back and forth between reading the book and the glossphilia then.

Interpretation of tongues, and prophecy (2 more of the nine ‘fruits of the sprit” are also relevant. Most fundamentalists believe that if God moves a believer to speak in tongues in a congregation, then he moves another to interpret, although some groups believe the same person does the speaking and the interpreting. Interpretation and prophecy are done in the language of the congregation, so that is very interesting as well. You can’t do other things when you interpret or prophecy. I liken it to extemporaneous speaking: if I am called upon to speak on a topic in which I am well-versed, I can say coherent things without a lot of planning. We’ve all had the experience of blurting out something, and we wonder “where did that come from?” (maybe like Kramer of Seinfeld fame recently).

By the way, prophecy has nothing to do with future telling. We were taught that the prophet Amos, among others, never told the future (and that would be witchcraft).

I think anyone can do it, you just start doing it. I still do it occasionally, particularly when I’m trying to fall asleep- the monotony tends to soothe me into sleep. Generally, though, I turn on a book on tape and while that drones on, I fall asleep. I guess that it might be like meditating, although I couldn’t say since I’ve never meditated.

Could you elaborate on “speaking in tongues”? I have heard about it and seen it many times (on TV, not in person) but I’m never sure exactly what is happening. Can you relate your experience of it to me? Are you actually taken over by a force or is it a way of freeing the mind and meditating, like reciting a mantra?

Thanks

“I have never imputed to Nature a purpose or a goal, or anything that could be understood as anthropomorphic. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.”

The more I read and think, the more I realize how little thinking I used to do.

http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusion#firstChapter