Cognitive dissonance and Christian worship
Yesterday I was listening to a psychologist on the radio talking about cognitive dissonance and body image. Not to put too fine a point on it, she was encouraging listeners to stand naked (or as near to it as they can bear) in front of a mirror and take a look at what they see. Those suffering from a negative body image should try to find even the smallest aspect of what they see which they like and say so. This might start with something as trivial as liking the shape of your eyebrows or the angle of your ankle bone and work from there. The theory behind this is our desire for consonance rather than dissonance. We all love our beliefs and actions to be in line with each other, rather than at war. The naked mirror-lookers are adjusting their behavior (by saying what they like in what they see) in the hopes that their belief about themselves will follow. This is cognitive dissonance theory at work.
It strikes me that this is not so very different from what we do in Christian worship. The belief that we are creatures of God and therefore imbued with an unshakeable dignity sometimes fails to pervade our behavior. By the act of worshipping God (whether we feel like it or not), we aim to bring behavior and belief in line once again and achieve the consonance for which the soul cries out. In this scenario, the preacher is the voice at the mirror, declaring what is there but which cannot be readily seen.
I think I shall be praying for consonance in my preaching and worship today.
