Humanity needs ritual to give substance to his spiritual life.
What are the rituals?
Initiatory, equinox/solstice, change of life, daily, cleansing, other.
Special actions and words and time spent in a sacred place with others of like mind provide people with a structure to focus their energies.
A consistent set of actions also allows the mind to focus and relax and let the spirit take over.
Unfortunately, current rituals are old, in some cases dating back several thousand years. They were designed for times and cultures and spiritual development that is not current anymore.
What can we replace it with? There is certainly some good and effectiveness in the old rituals, or they would wither away through lack of use or disinterest. Let’s look at them to see if we can deduce some essential elements to base new rituals on.
What are some popular ritualistic behaviors? Certainly traditional Christian worship comes to mind. As does the less traditional “praise” worship. Further afield, rock concerts, teenage display behavior, gang initiations, ceremonial magic could also be considered ritual behavior.
Rituals have a structure-a beginning, a middle and an end. Essentially you’re working with energy, either physical or spiritual in nature. The 3 phases act to gather and seal, work with, and store or release energy.
My exciting life, this place