I've been contemplating for a while what I should write about; what I could say that's fresh and interesting that other people aren't saying, or at least aren't saying in the same way. First and foremost, I am a scientist -- an observer. Second, for this blog, I love ritual. I love sacred spaces. I love finding out how people interact with the sacred, divine, universal. . . So that's what I'm going to write about.
With the growing reliance on the nuclear family and separation from extended kin as well as decrease in religious observance (especially among the educated), we as a world are loosing our connection to ritual practice. I see this as a bad thing. I think ritual is necessary. It grounds us. It frames our lives. It makes things more important. So science has to find a new ritual. A ritual that embraces what we now know about ourselves, our planet, and the universe while at the same time fulfilling the desperate need we all have inside of us for meaning, stability, and community.
First, a few disclaimers about me:
1. I grew up Russian Orthodox and much of my intrinsic comfort with rituals stems from these practices. I have been involved with Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Anglican churches at one point or another in my life. Therefore, I may use these references to frame some of my discussions. I'm not going to talk about the belief so much as the ritual, but I think it's fair to know where I am coming from.
2. My science background is broad covering biochemistry, chemistry, proteomics, genomics, microbiology, biology, astrobiology, and a bit of geology and soil science thrown in for good measure. I've also studied Sumerian, Biblical Hebrew, and Latin as well as history and religion of the ancient Near East. As a scientist, I accept the general scientific theories (such as the Big Bang, gravity, and evolution). I don't mind questions about anything, but I don't want this to turn into another one of the many places where people argue that the generally accepted scientific theories are wrong because a religion (any religion) says so.
3. The title of the blog is a reference to Catherine Bell's work Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice which discusses rethinking how scholars describe ritual. It's been a while since I've read her book, but I'm hoping to go back to it in the near future.
I'm going to stop here for today. I'm going to try and post something a few times a week. For right now, I'll leave with a question that I hope people will answer in the comments: How does ritual effect your life? Here I loosely define ritual it can be anything from a formal religious rite to putting on makeup or brushing teeth depending on how you view ritual and your life.
So pre-comment grounding: I am a former Catholic, currently denomination-less but strong in faith, science friendly, inquisitive who has read multiple faith, philosophy, and even occult and mystical views. My own observation is that ritual in its many forms is an inherent but under noted factor in most of our lives, for thousands of years, ever since we as a species began to contemplate our place in the greater world, we have found comfort in ritual practice, either as faith or in more mundane forms. It seems to form a stabilising field, a sort of personal resonance, we practice ritual for safety (from keeping a fire at night to locking doors), to avoid error (from fishing in the same spots as our father to standard operating procedures in aviation) and of course in the practice of religious belief. So does ritual effect my daily life, yes indeed, more times than I am likely to count. Perhaps the taking of a moment to realise how it effects all our lives can indeed promote a discussion of its importance, and of the concern I share with the author over humanities growing disconnection with the understanding of rituals significance in our daily lives.
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