There is incredible amounts of joy and progress to be found in ritual. Just take a look at the obsession of people with morning routines on YouTube. People believe in the power of ritual to lead to a better life, but we so often lose it.
I used to go to church when I was a kid. Every Sunday, I’d spend my morning learning about Jesus, his disciples, and repenting my sins. I hated it.
I never wanted to go to church. It was boring. But looking back, I’ve come to appreciate those Sundays a little more. It was a space to reflect. It was a space to stop consuming, doing. Even if I wasn’t paying attention, I at least had a place to think.
The weekly practice gave me time to reflect and reset. And I think I might be losing that — I’m losing ritual. Interesting about the way I see ritual, I see it largely as a daily or weekly practice while it was so often not (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_xJpVlry14) in the past. At most, it would come once or fewer times a year.
I don’t think there’s much of a difference. Each has its place. The problem is that when we leave organized religions, distance ourselves from anything that’s not “productive” (I don’t see this as a consequence of capitalism but rather humanity’s desire for more), we lose the value of ritual — and there’s a lot to be lost.
