I’d forgotten about this little phenomena of what I call the “spiritual voice.” Other names might include “prayer voice,” but that is misleading because it is not restricted to only moments of prayer.
When people around you start talking about God or their relationship with God or are praying, take notice. Does their voice become softer? Is it suddenly quieter? Does it sound like the mist in the early morning? Is there an ethereal quality about their voice that was never there before?
If so, they have fallen into the trap of the spiritual voice. It’s when well-meaning people think they will be considered more spiritual (by those around them? by God?) if they adopt a different sounding voice, more reverent sounding perhaps, than their normal, every day voice. I have never understood why people with perfectly normal sounding voices will out of nowhere adopt a very unnatural voice in order to talk about God or to God. Maybe this is learned from tele-evangelists–I seem to remember the lady with the pink hair talking in a very special sort of voice. Maybe the thought is that if you sound as if you are on the verge of an emotional breakthrough of some sort, God listens to you more.
This is a mystery to me.
Can any of you explain it?
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September 29, 2010 at 8:57 pm
willeymac
It is an attempt either to sound more spiritual or attempt to give some sort of reverence. However, what it does is that it ignores the familiarity (though respectful) we have with God through the Holy Spirit living in us. So, talking about God is not a separate realm, but rather an integration of the divine into the secular.
September 30, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Krissy
I am not sure I know the origins, but I do know that some actors have a ‘stage voice’- few things in the world irritate me more. (I am slightly overtired, and thus too unintelligable to further explain, but know that I completely understand what yoiu are talking about).
October 1, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Dan
You’re just judgmental… I prefer to stand on the street corner in very public places and call out at the top of my voice, decrying the lack of righteousness amongst those around me…