Internalizing religious goals makes them more central to the self.

Evidence

For not only was the idea of being true to oneself conceived of as a moral duty, it also presupposed the existence of a secular self whose sovereignty had to be demonstrated through acts of sincerity. The self’s secularity consisted in the fact that it was the precondition of transcendent (poetic or religious) experience and not its product. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 256 (#complicates, via linked claim)

When compared with the views of the mosque participants, comments such as these suggest a very different understanding of the relationship between public behavior and interiority, and of the role exemplary models should play in shaping the pious self. Amna’s skepticism about the public display of emo.. tions registers a detachment between the inner life of a self and its outward expressions wherein the experience of the former cannot be adequately cap.. tured in the latter, and where its true force can only be felt within the val.. orized space of personal self..refl Amna questions the mosque partici.. pants’ sincerity precisely because they place undue weight on performative behavior and social conventions as a measure of their religiosity; indeed, if the proper location of religion and emotions is the inner life of the individual, as Amna seems to suggest, then it follows that one’s sincerity in these two domains cannot be measured in one’s outward performances. In contrast, for the women I worked with, outward behavioral forms were not only expressions of their interiorized religiosity but also a necessary means of acquiring it. — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 1020 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Desires that feel innermost often derive from internalized social conventions. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 292; A secular self underlies rather than results from religious experience. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 256; Religious commitment shifts members’ focus from self-interest to collective welfare. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 914 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• A secular self underlies rather than results from religious experience. #complicates (0.78) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 256
• Outward religious behavior can be a means of producing inner piety #complicates (0.72) — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 1020