Suffering from Piloerection
Tarde, tarde, tarde. Oh well. Here's my take on the question from last time: What is that tingling sensation you get from a piece of good music, or an inspiring speech, etc.?
Here's what sskiptress said, which I like:
It's the reaction you get when your mind and soul are open to the energy flowing through them. If you're very guarded, you don't get this feeling often, but sometimes, a bunch of little energetic/emotional experiences pile on top of each other breaking down that guard so that a really big one does get through.
My answer has three parts, any of which could be true. (Or none, of course.)
1. At such times, we enter a slightly different state of consciousness - not dream, nor sleep, but not exactly awake in the normal sense. That tingling is the transition to that different state. In that state, we are much more focused on the "now." Time seems to extend and spiral out forever, yet when we emerge from it, it seems as if it happened in an instant. Personally, I can enter this state when I read a good book or see a good movie, but for some reason when I get there through sound, I get this tingling by-product. Maybe it's a side-effect of the sensory modifications going on in the brain.
2. According to the Thomas Gospels, and some other gnostic literature, the Divine is everything. Including us. We experience that tingling as our minds and senses open up and become aware of the divine nature in everything. This happened to me once at a concert. Just before it started, I sensed the tingling and thought, apropos of nothing, that God was there. It was watching the performance and was pleased with it - it was the performance - and it was the performers.
3. Such a tingling is related to the fight-or-flight reflex. More specifically, it's what we feel when adrenaline is dumped into our system - preparing us for that fight-or-flight. In some cases, though, we get excited by a piece of music or speech. We don't feel threatened, so the fight-or-flight part doesn't kick in, but the adrenaline is there and that's what we're feeling. Some of this view came from this Google Answers page, which I found after posting the initial question.
Here's what sskiptress said, which I like:
It's the reaction you get when your mind and soul are open to the energy flowing through them. If you're very guarded, you don't get this feeling often, but sometimes, a bunch of little energetic/emotional experiences pile on top of each other breaking down that guard so that a really big one does get through.
My answer has three parts, any of which could be true. (Or none, of course.)
1. At such times, we enter a slightly different state of consciousness - not dream, nor sleep, but not exactly awake in the normal sense. That tingling is the transition to that different state. In that state, we are much more focused on the "now." Time seems to extend and spiral out forever, yet when we emerge from it, it seems as if it happened in an instant. Personally, I can enter this state when I read a good book or see a good movie, but for some reason when I get there through sound, I get this tingling by-product. Maybe it's a side-effect of the sensory modifications going on in the brain.
2. According to the Thomas Gospels, and some other gnostic literature, the Divine is everything. Including us. We experience that tingling as our minds and senses open up and become aware of the divine nature in everything. This happened to me once at a concert. Just before it started, I sensed the tingling and thought, apropos of nothing, that God was there. It was watching the performance and was pleased with it - it was the performance - and it was the performers.
3. Such a tingling is related to the fight-or-flight reflex. More specifically, it's what we feel when adrenaline is dumped into our system - preparing us for that fight-or-flight. In some cases, though, we get excited by a piece of music or speech. We don't feel threatened, so the fight-or-flight part doesn't kick in, but the adrenaline is there and that's what we're feeling. Some of this view came from this Google Answers page, which I found after posting the initial question.