Raves are often considered a “religious experience” that shows the audience a “dancing tribe” that makes this culture of electronic dance music “a spirituality of life” ( St. John 12). There is no denying that rave consists of “cultures whose participants are committed to an ethic expressed most famously as Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect (PLUR)” (St. John 3). These participants reported life-changing experiences, transcendence, and even relayed anecdotes of “ascension and new enchantment” (St. John 3). According to Graham St. John, "[t]he rave exemplifies the cultural phenomenon of religion, particularly what Bastide considered 'institutional' or 'wild' religion rather than the domesticated or 'instituted' forms associated with institutional religion" (St. John 3). Essentially, the rave functions like a religious community but not in the traditional sense; the DJ is considered the shaman and the dance floor is the community (St. John 5). Furthermore, both the “ecstatic” experiences and the ritual structure of raves intensify the sense of belonging and demonstrate common characteristics. The raver experiences endemic reconnection and is considered “tribal” by participants (St. John 9-10). Furthermore, this tribal nature of ravers allows them to experience a sense of connection and inner peace with themselves. When one raver described this sensation by stating: “The experience of MDMA makes you perceive, through a kind of intuition, the true essence of your being. It's not something worked out by your conscious or unconscious mind, it's something you suddenly realize you know without a doubt. You know the truth because you have experienced it. Now that you know that you, I, everything is one, or God like you... middle of paper ......and trying to make friends with boys or girls or whatever, you know, and it's like the music was more of a background thing,” revealing the breakdown of solidarity towards music due to extensive drug use (Kavanugh and Anderson 21). Furthermore, the divide is caused by those who also believe that drug use is expanding into areas outside the rave scene. Works Cited Kavanaugh, Philip R. and Tammy L. Anderson. “Solidarity and Drug Use in the Electronic Dance Music Scene.” Sociological Quarterly 49.1 (2008): 181-208. Print.St. John, Graham. “Electronic Dance Music Culture and Religion: An Overview.” Culture and Religion 7.1 (2006): 1-25. Academia.edu. Network. April 20, 2014. Boeri, M. W., C. E. Sterk, and K. W. Elifson. “Rolling beyond Raves: Ecstasy use outside the rave environment.” Journal of Drug Issues 34.4 (2004): 831-860. Wise diary. Network. April 20. 2014.