ritual
the power of rituals
Sarah Drinkwater and
ritual
sometimes the most destabilizing chaos isn’t on the world stage. Nor is it a public outrage or even a shared experience.
It’s found instead in the quiet chaos of our everyday lives: making a home, raising a family, putting a meal on the table. These mundane corners of the human experience are also where we find the loosest pockets of culture today:
... See moreJasmine Bina • A Time to Build Tight Brands in the Chaos of Loose Cultures
In an effort to slow you down mid-scroll, the only metric we check on social is the “total number of saves.” Here are our top six from the year. 🦥 🐌 🦦 On a related note, one of our most frequently asked questions is, “what app do you use to make these?” You might LOL at the answer but we actually print them out, hand draw the logo and take a picture of the crinkled paper in sunlight. In an effort to practice what we preach, we (try to) place more emphasis on the process than a perfect end result. CC @leighpatterson @glennmendonsa
instagram.comRitual provides us with a tool for learning to think logically, analogically and ecologically as we move toward a sustainable culture.
Dolores LaChapelle • Ritual is Essential
Rituals are how we make meaning, personally and together.
In games studies, these worlds-within-a-world are called magic circles. A magic circle is the space where the game takes place.
We need ritual technology. Technology designed for ritual use.
Why? Most of the software we use daily is designed to engagement-max. Social media feeds, loot boxes, compulsion loops, gang gang yes yes yes ice cream so good. You’re caught in a feedback loop with the algorithm, and you are the squishiest part of that loop.
Where social media is compulsive, tools for thought are reflective. Where social media is here and now, tools for thought dwell in the long now. Tools for thought slowly build compounding momentum through low, slow feedback loops that point us in the directions we want to develop.
In a survey of 1,000 adults, it was found that 30% of people were eating dinner on the couch, and 17% of people were eating it in their bedrooms—two places where there is likely a screen and likely no conversation or interpersonal gathering. Remember that rooms have rules, and when we change the room, we create a vacuum of norms.
Jasmine Bina • A Time to Build Tight Brands in the Chaos of Loose Cultures
The relationship at the heart of ritual is the relationship between life and death, mediated by elemental forces. The kinds of rituals that fall out of that might be a monthly day of silence, perhaps periodic fasting, perhaps singing around the fire. All such things need to be done as symbolic testimony to the joy and sorrow of being human, no... See more
Substack • Imagining a World Beyond Consumerism
Insights from Byung-Chul Han:
The rise of narcissism, the emphasis on authenticity, and shallow technological experiences are eroding essential societal bonds
We need daily and lifelong rituals to help bring narrative structure into our lives
In the past, people had time to contemplate information, consider its place within a larger narrat... See more
We still instinctively long for this kind of belonging, as our sacrifices to sports teams, fraternities, or churches demonstrate.