Urgeborgenheit and the origin of

religious and musical emotion

Richard ParncuttCentre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Austria

SysMus Graz

Urgeborgenheit and the origin of religious and musical emotionWidely considered untranslatable, the German word “Geborgenheit” invokes safety (protection), personal warmth (companionship, trust, acceptance, love) and peace, in a cosy location. In the Christian calendar, Geborgenheit is strongest at Christmas, combining representations of a divine mother-child dyad with communities of family and friends in warm houses in a dark, snowy world.

“Urgeborgenheit” is primordial Geborgenheit. Its ontogenesis is presumably what an infant feels in the presence of a loving, attentive mother - essential for healthy psychological development and playful learning; it involves motherese and may begin prenatally (mother schema). As for phylogenesis, motherese presumably promoted the survival of human infants that were born earlier and more fragile due to upright maternal gait (3-5 million years ago) and increasing head size (2 000 000 – 200 000 years).

Adults feel Geborgenheit in rituals that combine spirituality (magic, religion) with music (dance). Can Geborgenheit’s adaptive value explain why music and religion exist? A cognitive theory of music’s origin may involve childplay for acquiring cognitive skills; a cognitive theory of religion’s origin, universally unanswerable questions (cf. Gödel’s incompleteness theorem). But emotional aspects are also important, and Urgeborgenheit is an interesting candidate. We relate to music as if to an emotional virtual person. In monotheistic religions, god is all loving, all powerful, and all knowing - like a mother from the infant perspective. Geborgenheit may also explain why people today are strongly attracted to concerts despite the availability of recordings, and to religious activities despite doubts about teachings.

These speculations will be analysed against relevant literature in developmental psychology, human evolution, anthropology, music psychology, religious studies, theology, psychoanalysis, and the sociology of ritual.

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Are we ignoring Christmas?

“An ethnographer who discovered so important a ritual in some exotic culture might he tempted to make it the centerpiece of his (sic.) cultural description; it is remarkable that social scientists have given so little attention to this conspicuous cluster of symbolic and practical acts.”

Caplow (1982, p. 383), cited by Hirschman & LaBarbera (1989)

Caplow, Theodore, (1982), "Christmas Gifts and Kin Networks," American Sociological Review, Vol 47, June, 383-392.

Elizabeth C. Hirschman and Priscilla A. LaBarbera (1989) ,"The Meaning of Christmas", in SV - Interpretive Consumer Research, eds. Elizabeth C. Hirschman, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 136-147.

Today’s Western Christmas Sensory pleasures

Food, drink, smells, lights, decorations, music

Rituals with rules Don’t open presents unless…

Santa The god of materialism?

A festival of love kinship, solidarity, altruism

Elizabeth C. Hirschman and Priscilla A. LaBarbera (1989) ,"The Meaning of Christmas", in SV - Interpretive Consumer Research, eds. Elizabeth C. Hirschman, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 136-147.

The First Noel arr. David Willcocks (link) sung by Celtic Woman (link)

Hark the Herald Angels Sing arr. Willcocks (link) sung by Jewel (link)

Is Christmas too emotional, special, or embarrassing for researchers?

Banned from January to November!

Typical musical emotions

Gabrielsson & Lindström Wik (2003) POSITIVE: peace, harmony, safety, warmth, humility, wonder,

awe, reverence, respect, joy, love, perfection, rapture

NEGATIVE: loneliness, longing, melancholy, embarrassment

Zentner, Grandjean & Scherer (2008) POSITIVE: wonder, transcendence, tenderness, nostalgia,

peacefulness, power, joyful activation

NEGATIVE: tension, sadness

Is this beginning to look a bit like Christmas?

Xmas music & national feelings

“...joulumusiikki events are seen as both expressions and constructions of ‘Finnishness’ “ (Hebert et al., 2012)

Applies to music in general Xmas music in particular

Hebert, D., Kallio, A. A., & Odendaal, A. (2012). Not so silent night: Tradition, transformation and cultural understandings of Christmas music events in Helsinki, Finland. Ethnomusicology Forum, 21 (3)

Basic trust (Urvertrauen) Relationship of infant to mother in 1st year Feeling of who/what one can trust or mistrust Prerequisite for next developmental stages Strong evolutionary adaptation

(Erikson, 1950)

Disruption psychopathic personality, depression, delinquency, suicide (Bowlby, 1970)Erikson, Erik H. (1950). Childhood and society.

Bowlby, John (1970). Disruption of affectional bods and its effects on behavior. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 2, 75-86.

Geborgenheit safety (protection by place and

people) warmth/love (companionship,

trust, acceptance) cosiness (feels good positive

valence) peace (no conflict low arousal)

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“Urgeborgenheit”original, primordial Geborgenheit

We easily empathize with a human or non-human baby. Do we share its emotion?

Typical musical emotionsThe positive ones are like Geborgenheit

Gabrielsson & Lindström Wik (2003) POSITIVE: peace, harmony, safety, warmth, humility, wonder,

awe, reverence, respect, joy, love, perfection, rapture

NEGATIVE: loneliness, longing, melancholy, embarrassment

Zentner, Grandjean & Scherer (2008) POSITIVE: wonder, transcendence, tenderness, nostalgia,

peacefulness, power, joyful activation

NEGATIVE: tension, sadness

Are these the main emotions of a modern western Christmas?

Christmas and Geborgenheit Theological aspect

• Emmanuel = God with us

Symbolic aspect: Madonna • De-sexualized (patriarchy, child perspective)

Social aspect: religious/family ritual• community singing, eating, presents

Material aspects• A warm house in a dark, snowy world• Sensory delights

Christmas feels especially geborgen in Europe and America since the 19th century

Virgin and Child, Sandro Botticelli,

1480.

Mother-infant relationshipand the “true meaning of Christmas”

Conservative adult male perspective Madonna and child = institutional representation Patriarchal meaning of Xmas: women’s role

Mother’s perspectiveAuthentic, instinctive drive to love one’s own child Popular meaning of Xmas: human love

Child’s perspectiveGod is like mother as perceived by infant Church’s meaning of Xmas: divine love

Virgin and Child, Sandro Botticelli,

1480.

Infant vs mother schema(Parncutt, 2009)

Infant schema (cuteness) survival! (Lorenz) Inverse: Mother schema?

Fetal knowledge of maternal sounds, movements and emotions could promote bonding and infant survival

Multimodal and holistic: baby cannot analyse it

Evidence for mother schema early hearing & learning – main function is bonding experiments on pre- and transnatal learning

…All of this without reflective consciousness

Feldman, R., et al. (1999). The nature of the mother’s tie to her infant. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 40, 929-939.

Bhārat Mātā

Mother India

Is the mother schema the origin of music?

Evidence: Motherese: Its universality,

complexity and musicality Musical skills of infants and children Music as persona Music and changed states,

spirituality, enclosure, flow

From motherese to music

“It is not surprising that societies all over the world have developed these nodes of culture that we call ceremonies and rituals, which do for their members what mothers naturally do for their babies: engage their interest, involve them in a shared rhythmic pulse, and thereby instill feelings of closeness and communion. The inborn propensities for imitation, reciprocity, and emotional communion in infancy have become further elaborated and used in ritualized and ceremonial forms that themselves build and reinforce feelings of unity among adults, all of which ultimately serve to hold the group together.”

(Ellen Dissanayake, 2000, p. 64, cited by Davies)

Lost and found in music(Clarke, 2012)

“Getting lost in the music” Pre-linguistic infantile state? Can’t separate senses

“Finding oneself in the music” Infant acquires social identity in bonding/separation

“You are the music” (T. S. Eliot 1943) Baby does not perceive itself as separate

“Embodied empathy” Common to motherese and music

Clarke, Eric F. (2014). Lost and found in music: Music, consciousness and subjectivity. Musicae Scientiae, 18, 354-368.

The phylogeny of music “Mother schema” theory (Parncutt, 2011)

large brain

early birth

fragile infant

motherese babbling

Larger brain 2 million or 200 000 years ago (Falk, 2000; Mithen, 1996)

Today, the first 3 postnatal months are the “4th trimester”

The ontogeny of musicThe “mother schema” theory

prenatal bonding

transnatal memory* motherese play** ritual**

* Long-term multimodal recognition memory • multimodal = sound + movement + emotion• for similar, repeated patterns • not episodic memory! (e.g. no memory for birth)

** Both play and ritual:• evoke “motherese feelings” • are reinforced by operant conditioning

Three theses

The emotions evoked by (modern Western) Christmas (music)

1. are more musical and less everyday than the emotions of other music

2. originated in maternal bonding as “experienced” & “remembered” by the infant or fetus

3. were evoked by music at the archeological "cultural explosion” (Mithen, 1999)

Corollary

We might learn basic things about music and emotion…

…from a systematic study of emotion in modern European and American Christmas music

Part 2: A more general approachMore theses:

Music is an evolutionary byproduct (spandrel) of adaptive behaviors…

…that are mainly associated with reproduction (not survival)

…of which the main one is the relationship between a fetus/infant and its mother

Stages of sexual reproduction

1. Flirting and mate selection

2. Romantic love and sex

3. Prenatal development*

4. Bonding and motherese*

5. Childplay

*3 & 4 are relevant for modern European/American Christmas music

1. Flirting and mate selectionDarwin (1871), Miller (2000)

The idea Males use music to attract females Females use music to judge male fitness

Evidence (a bit shaky…) zillions of love songs musicians are mainly male we are more creative when sexually active

2. Romantic love and sexGhizé (2012)

Are being in love and orgasm the original ASCs (altered states of consciousness)?

Can they explain the universal motivation to combine drugs, music, and ritual?

Or is prenatal “experience” a better model?

Susan K. de Ghizé (2012). Isolde’s multiple orgasms: sexology and Wagner’s Transfiguration. EuroMac

3. Prenatal developmentParncutt (1993, 2006, 2011, 2015)

The idea:The fetus continuously is exposed to

maternal sounds and movements hormonal/behavioral correlates of maternal

mood/emotion Associated by classical conditioning?

The fetus acquires a mother schema that promotes postnatal bonding and survival

familiarity with typical sound/movement patterns, taste/smell etc.

associations between that and mood/emotion

4. Bonding and motherese Dissanayake (2000), Falk (2004)

Infant survival depends on bonding mother schema ↔ infant schema

Motherese & babbling are musical•prosodic exaggeration •rhythmic, melodic, gestural•emotional, meaningful

Evidence: many studies on•motherese•infant musicality

5. Childplay

Children play ((with) music) to train skills for survival and reproduction

physical skills: strength and coordinationsocial skills: language and emotion

E.g. music performance alleviates dyslexia(Seither-Preisler et al., 2014)

Stages of sexual reproduction

1. Flirting and mate selection

2. Romantic love and sex

3. Prenatal development*

4. Bonding and motherese*

5. Childplay

*3 & 4 are relevant for modern European/American Christmas music

What about fighting music?

Could music be a spandrel of behaviors that promote survival (not reproduction)?

Is fighting music selected for if it helps win battles?Does fighting produce an ASC that suppresses

pain (like being in love, orgasm, birth)?

But fighting music does not necessarily promote social bonding:

Coordination is not necessary to win a battleCoordination is intrinsic to stages of reproduction

What about other ASCs?That are shared by humans and non-humans

State of shock following a serious accident? Function is to maintain essential organs Weaker relationship to music or shamanic practices

(healing: yes; communicating with spirits: no)

Dreams? Less relevant, since music happens when awake

Advantages of this theory

Evolutionary and ecological Based on observable, operationalizable

behaviors, affordances, motivations

Physiological Clear foundations e.g. oxytocin

Linked to pre-human behaviors Can plausibly explain origins

Urgeborgenheit and the origin of religious and musical emotion

Fragen über Fragen...

• Are modern Western Christmas carols a music-emotional archetype?

• Can the mother-infant bond explain: • this music?• music and changed states?• the “lost and found” in music?• music generally?

• More generally, is musical emotion based on flirting, sex, prenatal life, motherese, and play?