ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the complexities of studying feeling in religious contexts by addressing the comparative emotional transformations said to occur by the two groups of practitioners at Shanti and the Sufi Order. The discussion will open by exploring the emotional contexts of both sets of members at the points of entry into the respective organisations and after a period of involvement with the group. Following these descriptions, the analysis will consider two intervening factors that are enforced by both centres: shared spiritual tenets and dissociation from usual thought processes. The chapter argues that the techniques are aligned to mindfulness. However, the experiences of emotional change are interpreted through the language of the spiritual tenets, thereby endowing the transformation with a spiritual status. Sure enough, in both populations many respondents credited participation in the spiritual group for welcomed changes in mood and thought patterns.
