From Macbeth, Act V Scene I by William Shakespeare:
Doctor: How came she by that light?
Gentlewoman: Why, it stood by her: she has light by her continually; ’tis her command.
Doctor: You see, her eyes are open.
Gentlewoman: Ay, but their sense is shut.
Doctor: What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands.
Gentlewoman: It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands: I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour.
LADY MACBETH: Yet here’s a spot.
Doctor: Hark! she speaks: I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.
LADY MACBETH: Out, damned spot! out, I say!–One: two: why, then, ’tis time to do’t.- – Hell is murky! – Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? – Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.
Lady Macbeth’s guilt caused her to perceive bloody spots on her hands, and no amount of washing would remove them. Moving from Shakespeare to Hollywood: There was a movie released in 2022 called Jesus Revolution, based on the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. It depicts people being baptized in the ocean, and upon arising from the water you can see their joy as they feel spiritually refreshed, their old sins and past life washed away and a new life begun. Quite unlike Lady Macbeth. Does this reflect a spiritual reality, or perhaps a psychological one?
Baptism is a Christian rite which goes back to John the Baptizer, the forerunner of Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) each portray Jesus as being baptized by John, but do not say whether Jesus baptized anybody. On the other hand the Gospel of John does not mention Jesus getting baptized, but makes a point of saying that Jesus’ disciples baptized more people than John (probably to emphasize Jesus was superior to John, John 4:1, 2). Jesus’ disciples eventually adopted baptism as the entry rite to the kingdom for new believers. As with most doctrines, eventually there came variations as to how to baptize, the word originally meaning “to immerse” but pouring or sprinkling water later came into fashion. Also, the New Testament only gives examples of those old enough to profess belief being baptized, but later baptism came to be so important that it was thought even infants needed to be baptized in order to be accepted into God’s kingdom. So today there are a variety of methods employed by different sects, with some sects baptizing all ages and others only those old enough to offer a profession of faith.
The Macbeth effect is a psychological phenomenon based quite obviously on the Shakespeare character Lady Macbeth. In the play she is riddled with guilt and tries to wash off the blood she perceives on her hands. The Macbeth effect then is an urge to cleanse oneself in response to shame, and the relief of guilt that occurs after one washes. This effect is not uniformly accepted by the psychology community, as the initial study results have been difficult to replicate. However, it is a tradition in theater to not even say the name “Macbeth” outside of the required play lines or it will bring bad luck. When the name of the play is accidentally spoken the person is to leave, perform cleansing rituals, and be invited back in, thus warding off calamity. Hence they refer to it only as “the Scottish play.” So theater folk buy into this, even if all psychologists do not!
Have you ever felt guilty about something and felt the need to wash up? Have you ever taken a shower or bath and felt better psychologically? I suspect this is not uncommon. Washing off the body seems to be a reasonable analogy to cleansing the mind. Is it possible that this effect is related to the origins of baptism?
In the ancient Jewish religion ritual washing was specified for a variety of reasons, including uterine bleeding, genital discharges, exposure to a dead body, etc. The ancients may have figured out that washing off after exposure to dead things and body fluids, either your own or somebody else’s, promoted better health. Or perhaps they recognized that after washing one just “felt” better. There is a gruesome example of this in Numbers 31: after slaughtering the Midianites the soldiers of Israel wash themselves, their clothes and all the contraband over a period of seven days before being allowed back among the people. (Don’t fret – they didn’t really slaughter all the Midianites. When you get to the book of Judges they are said to be “innumerable.” You have to take these stories with a big grain of salt.) John the Baptizer later came along “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4), extending washing from bodily contamination to spiritual contamination (sin). Jesus, or his disciples, continued this ritual. There are passages in the New Testament that appear to correlate baptism to the washing away of sins (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:11, 12, Acts 2:38), but some denominations today see it as purely symbolic. Either way, if you witness a baptism the person usually expresses a feeling of newness and spiritual cleansing after that physical washing of the body.
The positive side of this is that it feels good to be cleansed! Excessive guilt can certainly have a negative effect on one’s mental health and therefore also one’s physical health. So even if you question the spiritual side of baptism, the process may actually have a positive effect for some people by giving them some relief from their feelings of guilt. (Of course, some of that guilt may be due to what the church preaches, but that’s a separate discussion!)
On the other hand, there is a possible downside. In the original study of the Macbeth effect they found that while people often felt some relief of guilt after being given a chance to wash, those who had experienced this relief were then less likely to take actions to alleviate their guilt. For example, those who were cleansed might be less likely to say they would like to contribute to a charity, as the guilt factor had been lessened. Guilt can provide some motivation for action: what happens when those feelings of guilt are “washed” away? This raises an interesting question: when a person is baptized, might their feelings of being cleansed make them less likely to seek to rectify their correctable wrongs, their “sins”? After all, they are “clean” now. Of course, Christian teaching usually incorporates the need to do right and to correct wrongs, so perhaps that balances out.
Still, I wonder about some of the Christian sects I see today. Some groups seem to feel so clean that they can look down on others; after all they have been elevated to the divine family. The poor are seen as guilty – that’s why they are poor. Immigrants at our border are viewed with hostility rather than compassion. Personal prosperity is more important than charity. Could such attitudes be the result of feeling total release of guilt and therefore the inability to empathize with the “unwashed masses” thus reducing the motivation to help? Or is it just human nature bleeding through the religious exterior? There will always be such people, just as there is the exact opposite: those who choose to lead an ascetic life in service to others. But most of us are somewhere in between. Still, it seems that conservative evangelical sects that practice adult baptism seem more exclusive and judgmental on others, while mainstream denominations that practice infant baptism tend to be more liberal. (There are certainly exceptions to this rule.) Perhaps it is too much of a stretch to think that baptism has such an effect on one’s attitudes towards others, but I do wonder.
As a corollary, baptism also represents a separation from “the world,” a term sometimes used in the New Testament to represent the unsaved or unrighteous people who don’t know and worship the true god. Scholar Wayne Meeks discusses this role of baptism in his book, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (2nd edition 2003, Yale University Press). On the one hand, I understand the importance of distinction in any social group; there is no group identity without differentiating yourself from others. But in a world that seems to be increasingly divided up into various factions, is that always a good thing? In my experience baptism itself is a divisive issue: some groups say baptism is necessary for salvation, others say it is merely symbolic of salvation; some groups baptize only those old enough to seek it while others baptize infants; some baptize by immersion, others by sprinkling. You would think Christianity would be united on such an important and basic issue, but no. And this is a good excuse for me to share this from comedian Emo Phillips:
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”
I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.
It is a very funny joke, but it is almost too true to be funny, given the history of religious division and violence throughout history. So, maybe there is a downside to using baptism to create further distinction and separation between people. Washing the humanity out of people is not the intention of baptism (I hope).
Have you been baptized? How did you feel afterwards? Do you think it affected your attitude, actions or lifestyle? How do you feel after a good shower or bath? Do you think it affects you psychologically? Does it influence your actions as well? Positively or negatively? Is there something to this Macbeth effect? And does it apply to baptism? Is baptism a spiritual transformation, or just a psychological effect? I just hope you don’t wake up tonight, wandering the house, muttering, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”
Thinking exercises:
- After a good bath or shower do you also feel better mentally? If so, why do you think that is? Do you think this relates to the ritual of baptism?
- Jesus said in Matthew 7:3 to think of another’s fault as a speck but your own fault as a log. Can baptism have the inadvertent effect of causing someone to feel so clean that they can now look down on others and their specks?
- Do you think it is a good thing to be relieved of guilt without having to do anything to address or rectify it, as in baptism? In some Christian sects one does acts of penance to atone for their sins. Does this make sense to you? Does it make a difference if it is “deserved” guilt or unreasonable or excessive guilt (such as brought on by the church itself!)?