Editing The Beach Boys (section)

===Spirituality===
The band members often reflected on the spiritual nature of their music (and music in general), particularly for the recording of ''Pet Sounds'' and ''Smile''.{{sfn|Sellars|2015|pp=8–9}} Even though the Wilsons did not grow up in a particularly religious household,{{sfn|Sellars|2015|p=8}} Carl was described as "the most truly religious person I know" by Brian, and Carl was forthcoming about the group's spiritual beliefs stating: "We believe in God as a kind of [[universal consciousness]]. God is love. God is you. God is me. God is everything right here in this room. It's a spiritual concept which inspires a great deal of our music."{{sfn|Priore|2005|p=85}} Carl told ''Rave'' magazine in 1967 that the group's influences are of a "religious nature", but not any religion in specific, only "an idea based upon that of Universal Consciousness.&nbsp;... The spiritual concept of happiness and doing good to others is extremely important to the lyric of our songs, and the religious element of some of the better [[church music]] is also contained within some of our new work."<ref name=Rave1967>{{cite news|last1=Grant|first1=Mike|title='Our influences are of a religious nature': the Beach Boys on Smile|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/11/beach-boys-smile-brian-wilson|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=October 11, 2011|access-date=December 13, 2016|archive-date=May 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507035916/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/11/beach-boys-smile-brian-wilson|url-status=live}}</ref>

Brian is quoted during the ''Smile'' era: "I'm very religious. Not in the sense of churches, going to church; but like the essence of ''all'' religion."{{sfn|Sellars|2015|p=8}} During the recording of ''Pet Sounds'', Brian held [[prayer meeting]]s, later reflecting that "God was with us the whole time we were doing this record&nbsp;... I could feel that feeling in my brain."{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|p=97}} In 1966, he explained that he wanted to move into a [[religious music|white spiritual sound]], and predicted that the rest of the music industry would follow suit.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=94}} In 2011, Brian maintained the spirituality was important to his music, and that he did not follow any particular religion.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Yakas|first1=Ben|title=Our Ten Minutes With Beach Boys Legend Brian Wilson|url=http://gothamist.com/2011/10/27/brian_wilson.php|date=October 27, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725054715/http://gothamist.com/2011/10/27/brian_wilson.php|archive-date=July 25, 2015}}</ref>

Carl said that ''Smile'' was chosen as an album title because of its connection to the group's spiritual beliefs.<ref name=Rave1967/> Brian referred to ''Smile'' as his "teenage symphony to God",{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=4}} composing a [[hymn]], "[[Our Prayer]]", as the album's opening spiritual invocation.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=41, 270}} Experimentation with [[psychotropic]] substances also proved pivotal to the group's development as artists.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Griffiths|first1=David|title=Dennis Wilson: "I Live With 17 Girls"|magazine=Record Mirror|date=December 21, 1968}}</ref>{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=58}} He spoke of his LSD trips as a "religious experience", and during a session for "Our Prayer", Brian can be heard asking the other Beach Boys: "Do you guys feel any acid yet?".{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|pp=94, 116}} In 1968, the group's interest in [[transcendental meditation]] led them to record the original song, "[[Transcendental Meditation (song)|Transcendental Meditation]]".{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=215}}