snip........
>It also wasn't like the experience of people who currently live in
>primitive cultures. For us it was novel.
Random thoughts...
I think that fundamentalist religion, specifically the charismatic
flavour, provides similar experiences as Reed and Stephen describe
above and below. The interpretation is different (e.g., that of the
sacred, connecting to god) but that probably gives it additional
power and meaning. I suspect many of the primitive rituals that
have the feelings Stephen describe also connect it to their gods.
People like the feelings they obtain from this. And, after all,
i would venture to guess that feelings define most people more
than rational thoughts...
ken
snip........
>It also illuminated (pun intended) the role of these experiences in a
>high tech culture.
>*****
>
>Hanging out on a rocky New England beach at sunset evokes a very specific mood
>in me. The way I want to describe it is nostalgic, which is strange since I
>grew up in Michigan far enough from the water that beaches weren't a central
>part of my childhood. But there is something about a cloudy fall twilight that
>makes me feel at home.
>
>I like those sorts of moods. I seek them out. I'm wary, however, of trying to
>rationalize too much about them. Who was it that said on should not confuse
>the Real with the True? Those moods certianly are Real: I feel nostalgic, at
>home, as if I've returned to a comfortable place after years without it.
>
snip......
>Maybe "primitive" stuff is able to evoke feelings of community because it
>appears authentic. We lower our guard and suspend disbelief. Maybe we just
>don't know how to do that with the internet yet. Maybe we've just been burned
>too many times with TV.
>
>We're always becoming more sophisticated, looking for the novel.
>
>I love the shore. But those feelings are in me, not in the rocks.
>