We can define rituals as symbolic techniques of making oneself at home in the world,” as Han puts it. “They transform being-in-the-world into a being-at-home. They turn the world into a reliable place. They are to time what a home is to space.”

The philosopher Byung-Chul Han has understood more than most how modern consumer societies are emptying their souls — tossing out tradition and ritual in the name of the next new thing. “Everything that binds and connects is disappearing. There are hardly any shared values or symbols, no common narratives that unite people,