Rituals

This is my entry for this month’s IndieWeb Carnival, hosted by Steve on the topic of Rituals. Actually this is my first entry at all.

Thinking about rituals, my first reaction was: I don’t do any ritual.
After that I searched for the definition of ritual on Wikipedia:

A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or revered objects. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, but not defined, by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance.

Ok, maybe I do instead.

From the morning when I set the table for breakfast or right before starting my job when i prepare desk and notes, or even during my job consider that the first thing I do is participating to a Scrum ceremony - and what is a ceremony if not a ritual? - , it seems that my days are full of rituals, some aware, some less so, In the broad sense of the term.

Rituals, to me, are like a way to give us the - good - illusion of control. The simplest mark the rhythm of our days, the most solemn can helps guiding our communities and even shaping our society.

I wrote “good illusion” because this kind of illusions is the one that make us more confident to the future, to our paths. Rituals creates an over-structure above reality that pigeonholes our actions and, I think, contribute defining us.

We are what we do, and how we do things is part of doing. Rituals, as a sequence of activities, are the quintessence of our being.

At the same time, if rituals gives structure to reality, we could see breaking rituals as a way to change the society.

What an interesting topic this of rituals, observable from so many points of view, and what a stimulating event this Indieweb carnival is. Thanks again to this month's host.