Sep 03 2008
Submissiveness and the Sacred
The minimum act of submission is to bow one’s head while taking off one’s hat, which is still widely used and taken for granted as a gesture of politeness.
- Walter Burkert (17)
A number of academics and scientists have begun looking beyond nurture (i.e. culture) to understanding religion. Human nature is where they (and I) have set their sights. Walter Burkert is one, as is Daniel Dennett and his, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. (18)(19) By looking toward the genetic/biological buds of religious behavior, the supernatural is being lassoed and dragged down into the natural world, where it belongs.
A central theme to my, “Almighty Alpha” project is that human beings are a species innately inclined to create and recognize dominance hierarchies. I think this point is almost beyond challenge, for there is a mountain of evidence supporting it. (20) What is “God” but a people’s most alpha of alphas? Sure, he may be invisible, but so long as people behave as if he is real, the behavior and beliefs are reinforced and propagate.
In the Bible you can find many verses that illustrate the alpha status of its deity. The “Big Guy’s” size, power, position, etc. Yet the status of the dominant depends upon the existence of relative subordinates. To be great is to be greater than. The relationship is dyadic. To demonstrate and/or reflect the status of their great god, believers will act accordingly lowly. In an interaction or ritual establishing and or acknowledging status, the more dominant stands tall and erect, the lesser folds, or falls and/or becomes limp. This human reflex has been found in children cross-culturally. (21)
In my neck of human civilization I frequently encounter church signboards, and glimpses of televangelist’ rantings when channel-surfing, that express this sentiment: to be accepted by the great deity you must repent for however you may have offended him (and some believe the simple act of being born is sufficient offense). A great offense is pride, or “standing too tall.” According to Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, “repent” comes from the Latin term of “creeping.” (22) As along the ground. By lowering his or her body, the believer elevates their god. A head is lowered, a body is lowered to kneeling, or, even more dramatically, to prostrate on the ground.
In the following select sample of Bible verses we will look at three categories of body language that express and maintain relative status. The first: characteristics/behavior of the dominant; the second: characteristics/behavior of the subordinate; the third: verses that illustrate the dyadic relationship –movement in opposite directions: up for gods and masters, down for the plebes and followers.
1) Dominant
O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand. (2 Chronicles 20:6)
Etc. (See previous posts in this category.)
2) Subordinate
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. (Genesis 50:18)
Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. (Exodus 34:8)
Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!” (1 Kings 18:39)
Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will lay their hands on their mouths and their ears will become deaf. They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens; they will turn in fear to the LORD our God and will be afraid of you. (Micah 7:16-17) (23)
2) Dominant-Subordinate Dyad
As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. (Judges 13:20)
I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. (Matthew 3:11)
[A]nd a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. (Matthew 17:5-6) (24)
While size and posture/body-language are visual signs of power and status, power is also expressed by deeds. In the next “Almighty Alpha” post, we will look at some of the ways the Bible god used impressive acts to express his power and status as the most high.
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(17) Burkert, W., Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996, p. 86
(18) Dennett, D., Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Viking, New York, 2006.
(19) See also: Boyer, P. Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, Basic Books, New York, 2001; Atran, S., In God’s We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002; Wilson, D.S. Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, 2002.
(20) Here is a tidbit from my field: “Simple changes in posture are accompanied by differences in perceived dominance. When people expand themselves and take up a lot of space, they are perceived as dominant, whereas when they constrict themselves and take up little space, they are perceived as submissive.” Tiedens, L. & Fragile, A., “Power Moves: Complementarity in Dominant and Submissive Nonverbal Behavior,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, March 1, 2003, Vol. 84 #3
(21) Wright, R., The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life, Vintage, NY, 1995, p. 242
(22) Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
(23) See also, Genesis 23:26, 2 Samuel 14:22, Psalms 66:4, and scores of other verses that escaped my cursory review.
(24) Same as above.
