Nature is full of patterns and we humans love finding them, creating them, repeating them. That’s at the core of language, math, music, and even ritual, which is the repetition of words or actions deemed worthy of representing something bigger than ourselves. Some rituals are very private, some are very public. Some are so commonplace we don’t even

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It's why we love the concept of rituals right now -- moments of hypothetical commune that historically are dictated by an outside body or from the collective group -- but also why they're impossible in neo-liberal capitalism -- too individualistic, too driven by "main character energy," yet void of real stubborn personality, values, and taste.

In an overly digitized world, people embrace with intensity the few remaining ritualistic activities available to them. Halloween gets turned into something extravagant—not just for children anymore, but adults too. The same is true of Valentine’s Day or Mardi Gras and other ritualized occasions. They are pushed to extremes because people have so... See more