quotes and passages on ritual and rituals

The corrupt are into rituals
whereas the virtuous are spiritual.

Abhaidev
The Gods Are Not Dead

An important note: "Ritual" is another one of those terms that can be seen in different
ways by different people in different situations. When you read what people have
written about them, you see that many people find them to be wonderful ways to
honor tradition and heritage, while others find them to be terribly destructive habits
that make our lives less than fulfilling. We present both sides here, without trying to
categorize them or put them in any sort of order; therefore, you're going to see many
contradictory messages on this page--just like we see in life every day, no?

When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be found? In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment? Muriel Barbery The Elegance of the Hedgehog

A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being re-minded of the wisdom of your own life. I think ritual is terribly important. Joseph Campbell

The key to forming good habits is to make them part of your 'rituals.' I have a morning ritual, afternoon ritual, and Sunday ritual. It's one way to bundle good habits into regular times that you set aside to prepare yourself for the life you want. Rituals help you form habits. Lewis Howes

Bedtime rituals for children ease the way to the elsewhere of slumber - teeth brushing and pajamas, the voice of a parent reading, the feel and smell of the old blanket or toy, the nightlight glowing in a corner. Siri Hustvedt

I respect the Bible and offer namaz regularly. But I am ritualistic
only up to a certain extent. I believe only in those rituals that I
can understand and connect with, and conduct them my own way.

Emraan Hashmi

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Exercise, prayer, and meditation are examples of calming rituals.
They have been shown to induce a happier mood and provide
a positive pathway through life's daily frustrations.

Chuck Norris

Rituals, anthropologists will tell us, are about transformation.
The rituals we use for marriage, baptism or inaugurating a
president are as elaborate as they are because we associate
the ritual with a major life passage, the crossing of a critical
threshold, or in other words, with transformation.

Abraham Verghese

I learned a few years ago that balance is the key to a happy and
successful life, and a huge part of achieving that balance is to
instill rituals into your everyday life--a nutritious balanced diet,
daily exercise, time for yourself through meditation, reading,
journaling, yoga, daily reflection, and setting goals.

Gretchen Bleiler

People have traditionally turned to ritual to help them frame and acknowledge and ultimately even find joy in just such a paradox of being human--in the fact that so much of what we desire for our happiness and need for our survival comes at a heavy cost. We kill to eat, we cut down trees to build our homes, we exploit other people and the earth. Sacrifice--of nature, of the interests of others, even of our earlier selves--appears to be an inescapable part of our condition, the unavoidable price of all our achievements. A successful ritual is one that addresses both aspects of our predicament, recalling us to the shamefulness of our deeds at the same time it celebrates what the poet Frederick Turner calls "the beauty we have paid for with our shame." Without the double awareness pricked by such rituals, people are liable to find themselves either plundering the earth without restraint or descending into self-loathing and misanthropy. Perhaps it's not surprising that most of us today bring one of those attitudes or the other to our conduct in nature.

Michael Pollan
A Place of My Own

Purification and redemption
are such recurrent themes
in ritual because there is a
clear and ubiquitous need
for them: we all do regrettable
things as a result of our own
circumstances, and new
rituals are frequently invented
in response to new circumstances

Susan Cain
Quiet

Rituals are the architects of belonging. They take the ordinary
and transform it into something meaningful. A morning cup
of tea becomes a pause before the day’s bustle. . . . These small
practices anchor us. They create pockets of home in
the midst of chaotic schedules and transient spaces.

Ajmal
Borders of the Inner World

Whether we're conscious of it or not, our work and personal
lives are made up of daily rituals, including when we eat our
meals, how we shower or groom, or how we approach our
daily descent into the digital world of email communication.

Chip Conley

It is clear that rituals and sacrifices can bring people together,
and it may well be that a group that does such things has an
advantage over one that does not. But it is not clear why a
religion has to be involved. Why are gods, souls, an afterlife,
miracles, divine creation of the universe, and so on brought in?

Paul Bloom

self - self 2 - self 4 - self 5

We spontaneously engage in ritualized behaviors when we
face stressful and uncertain situations, and we intuitively
expect those ritualized actions to have an effect.

Dimitris Xygalatas
Ritual

Rites and rituals open hearts and clear minds. They help us
embody reverence and allow us to get in touch with our
emotions and desires. They provide safe ways
to make change.

Ahriana Platten

Sharing food has always had a central place in civilized societies;
it's no accident that so many of our cultural, religious and
patriotic rituals are involved with eating.

Ruth Reichl

Ritual is as old as humanity. The first humans ritually raised hands
and voices in both desperation and exaltation, just as we do today.
That protracted continuity is no historical accident. Ritual has
been as critical to our success as fire and tools.

Matt J. Rossano
Ritual in Human Evolution and Religion

Rites of passage allow us to migrate from one phase of our
lives to another; they keep us from getting lost in transit.
They show us a way to honor the space between
no longer and not yet.

Suleika Jaouad
Between Two Kingdoms

Any ritual is an opportunity for transformation. To do a ritual,
you must be willing to be transformed in some way. The
inner willingness is what makes the ritual come alive
and have power. If you aren't willing to be changed
by the ritual, don't do it.

Starhawk

This is what rituals are for. We do spiritual ceremonies as human beings in order to create a safe resting place for our most complicated feelings of joy or trauma, so that we don't have to haul those feelings around with us forever, weighing us down. We all need such places of ritual safekeeping. And I do believe that if your culture or tradition doesn't have the specific ritual you are craving, then you are absolutely permitted to make up a ceremony of your own devising, fixing your own broken-down emotional systems with all the do-it-yourself resourcefulness of a generous plumber/poet.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love

Rituals keep us from forgetting what must not be forgotten
and keep us rooted in a past from which
we must not be disconnected.

Tony Campolo

Ritual consists of the external practices of spirituality that
help us become more receptive and aware of the closeness
of our lives to the sacred. Ritual is the act of sanctifying
action--even ordinary action--so that it has meaning. I can
light a candle because I need the light or because
the candle represents the light I need.

Christina Baldwin

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Rituals are comforting; rituals combat loneliness.

John Irving

On the whole, our modern ritual is impoverished and
does not fulfill people's need for collective art and ritual.

Erich Fromm