Reply #3: I think Projection explains some of it.

[patrice]

There's also a lot of externalization going on; the thinking is something can't be real unless there is some external sign for it that is publicly identified as such. For example, "My commitment to the Lord isn't real unless I tell others." Therefore, any verbal contradiction destroys the thing one contradicts. To me, it's more magical thinking and magical words. It also explains why so many churches have stages and lots of productions. There is a physiological buzz associated with even low levels of public talk about anything; emotionally charged topics like death and love create even more buzz, a.k.a. "the Holy Spirit".

People confuse words with concrete phenomena that existed before we made up words to describe them.