Something I've noticed, being at church, is the extent to which the things we hear over and over – and moreso, that we say over and over – become part of our internal monologue. From a pop psychology perspective, people attempt to capture this through the practice of affirmations, repeatedly stating an aspiration as fact and expecting that one will subconsciously act in a way to make that be true.
While the specifics will vary between churches and denominations, almost every worship service contains elements that are repeated week after week. Private devotions may well repeat them more frequently. It's this repetition that helps build a feeling of community – the group of people affirming belief in the same things week after week naturally begins to identify as the "us" who share these things "we" believe.
Our choir will be singing a setting of "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree" in a couple weeks. The symbology of this song has always struck me as odd; while I loved my apple tree, I can't claim that I had a personal relationship with it. If anyone was Lord and Savior in that relationship, it was me – fertilizer, spraying for worms, etc. But the final stanza of this piece struck me powerfully at choir practice and has stayed with me:
This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the Apple Tree.
That's a powerful statement – that eating the fruit of the Apple Tree (which is Christ) keeps faith alive. Alternately stated, without constantly re-consuming the fruit, faith would die. Indoctrination must be constantly refreshed in order to remain fully effective. I don't think that's the truth the unknown author intended to convey, but it's true nonetheless.
One of my hyper-evangelical aunts posted a Facebook meme that said, "The more you miss church, the less you miss church." I find it a beautiful statement that is true both ways – if church is a crucial part of your life, you'll go out of your way to be there every week. But the less you spend time in church, the less need you'll feel to keep it in your life. The only surprising part is that she would post it if she saw both sides of the meme.
I find a strange cognitive dissonance in having these repetitions of things I don't believe. I choose not to join in the group declarations of belief – I'm there to sing, and so I only sing. But the things I'm singing are still themselves declarations of belief. After a couple months, I'm finding myself back where I once was, that the music of the church crops up in my mind at random times. Yet I don't believe the things it says.
Brainwashing is sometimes defined as being given ideas to accept without critical analysis of them. It happens for reasons that are good, bad, or anywhere in between. One area where I realized I had been "brainwashed" is the cultural idea that certain foods are or are not "breakfast" foods. In many parts of the world, breakfast is a meal like any other; you might expect to see soup or rice just as often as you would at lunch or dinner. These are cultural norms I accepted as a child without critical analysis; they've been reinforced every day that I have food at breakfast I have at no other time of day. It was only after encountering a different point of view that I realized I have no rational basis for the distinction.
There are Satanic congregations, and we do rituals. We say certain things together, affirming our shared beliefs. And yet, to a much greater extent than most of Christianity, Satanism is a fundamentally individualistic religion. I don't have the luxury of gathering on a weekly basis with other Satanists to reaffirm the things we all believe. At the weekly Temple services, the only repeated portion is the Invocation; hardly the full Nicene Creed. And yet I continue to believe in the Tenets.
One of the things about Satanism that's most important to me is the embrace of critical analysis. The Fifth Tenet says:
Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
What do you believe that does not have a basis in your best scientific understanding of the world? What things are you voluntarily doing that reinforce that belief?
Hail Satan! Amen.