HKB
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Often appears with: the passions and the emotions · religious persecution and toleration · myth and the gods of the nations · french revolution · crusades · collective effervescence
Usually: reflection (1) · ambition and its cost (1) · lament (1) · wonder (1)
“The Crusaders believed that they felt God present in the midst of them, enjoining them to go to the conquest of the Holy Land; Joan of Arc believed that she obeyed celestial voices.” Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life · observation
“Now this greater activity results in a general stimulation of individual forces. Men see more and differently now than in normal times. Changes are not merely of shades and degrees; men become different.” Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life · insight
Durkheim argues that collective shocks and revolutionary gatherings intensify individuals into heroes or butchers, and that crusader and Joan of Arc beliefs show how social pressure becomes religious conviction.
sentiment. The passionate energies he arouses re-echo within him and quicken his vital tone. It is no longer a simple individual who speaks; it is a group incarnate and personified. Beside these passing and intermittent states, there are other more durable ones, where this strengthening influence of society makes itself felt with greater consequences and frequently even with greater brilliancy. There are periods in …