I was recently browsing my local Christian book/music store[1] when I noticed two music albums displayed in the same area whose covers immediately struck me as interesting. They are Michael W. Smith’s Worship Box Set and Hosanna!’s Experience His Presence.

Michael W. Smith – Worship Box Set

Hosanna! – Experience His Presence

I’ve always been interested in the brain chemistry behind[2] powerful emotional experiences and in particular religious experiences. The little that I know about the neurotransmitters that influence our emotional responses has been gathered from some lite reading into the effects of certain illicit chemicals, particularly traditional psychedelics. Now let me state immediately that I’m not convinced that religious experiences are purely chemical, though I do think that psychedelic experiences are[3]. But it certainly seems plausible that brain chemistry plays a significant part in religious experiences and that psychedelics and other drugs (particularly Ecstasy[4]) produce a very similar experience.
But that’s not really what I’m interested in here, other people can argue to what extent religious/spiritual experiences are produced by brain functions. What I am interested in is these two fucking album covers. Aren’t they wild? Think about it for a second; the purpose of a music album cover[5] is to give some sort of visual form to the tone/mood/content of the music it wraps. The best art that accompanies music are those images that connect with the intention of the music without bluntly shaping what the listener should experience. R.E.M.’s cover for Murmur might be slightly pretentious, but it does have a very subtle connection with the mood of the music that makes it one of my favourites. So check out these two covers; they practically blurt out ‘Hey man! Listen to this! Feel God’s closeness! It’s like a fucking explosion in your head, yeah! It’s gonna rock!!‘.

But the fact that these are poor covers is still not what I’m interested in. What’s interesting is that this is the experience that they want to associate with Christian worship[6] – the experience of a fucking firecracker going off in your head. Other worship music might emphasise experiences of redemption(tears) or hope(doves descending from heaven) or love(open arms), but these want that fucking explosion in the head. That is a very psychedelic thing; to emphasise the listener’s experience of an opening of the head is a radical thing to do. And the link to a psychedelic experience is undeniable. The mental state portrayed by the Michael W. Smith cover is the same as that produced by a rush of bent serotonin/dopamine at the peak of a psychedelic experience.
I certainly don’t begrudge anyone this state however they may choose to produce or explain it. Whether you believe that the spirit of a god has ascended within you or that you’ve broken through an inter dimensional divide or simply that you’ve flipped a switch in the beautiful circuitry that is your brain is up to you. But it blows my mind that this state, an explosion of the mind, is what these albums emphasise of the worship experience. What’s important here is not the presence of God, but the worshiper’s own glowing mind.

[1] As one does
[2] Or, at least, contributing to
[3] I’m strongly opposed to the idea that DMT will actually let you contact other dimensions for real. I don’t buy that shit.
[4] Let’s not bullshit around and call it MDMA/MDA or whatever other ‘legitimising’ term peeps use. It’s a drug, it’s Ecstasy – there’s no need to apologise for it.
[5] Or any piece of art that accompanies another piece of art, think book covers
[6] Of course not all Christian worship music, but theirs.
[7] Yes, I know, the images are specifically selected to emphasise their similarity and are therefore not a real representation of the relationship between religion and raves blah blah – bite me.

PS as I mentioned a little earlier I’m not really interested in the debate around whether religious experiences are chemically induced or not, but in looking around I’ve come across some images that you might find entertaining.