What's the difference between ritual and routine? That's one of the questions we pondered together in the class on Creative Rituals for a Changing World that I led last fall at the First Unitarian Church.
After exploring our own responses (intention & attention; connection: with self, source, others; vulnerability, leap of faith; structure, practice) we consulted a few others.
"Rituals are cairns marking the path behind us and ahead of us. Without them we lose our way." ~ Robert Fulghum
Best known for his words about Kindergarten, immortalized on bumper stickers and refrigerator magnets everywhere, Robert Fulghum published a wonderful book nearly 20 years ago titled From Beginning to End: The Rituals of Our Lives. Amidst his wonderfully relaxed stories are these nuggets:
Ritual gives structure and meaning to daily life: Those patterns that we ourselves repeat again and again because they bring structure and meaning to our individual and collective lives. Those things we do for the first time that, in fact, have been done by the human race again and again forever. Behavior that is regularly repeated because it serves a profound purpose.
Rituals are repeated patterns of meaningful acts. If you are mindful of your actions you will see the ritual patterns. If you see the patterns, you may understand them. If you understand them, you may enrich them. In this way, the habits of a lifetime become sacred.
"Ritual is the journey; the sacred is the destination." ~ Eileen London & Belinda Recio
In their book Sacred Rituals: Connecting with Spirit, London and Recio describe the role of ritual in embodying our intentions: "By acting out our intentions, we feel them more completely - in body, mind and soul." The Japanese tea ceremony master, they say, "enacts the greatness of little things, in ways that demand complete presence and participation." Tibetan sand paintings, swept away upon completionn "embody an intention to accept impermanence." London and Ricio echo Fulgham when they note, "Ritual binds us to the whole of creation, and it is in this bond that we can encounter the sacred."
I would love to hear about the rituals you employ. Here's a wonderful post by Holly Wren Spaulding about how legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp uses ritual at the beginning of the creative process, "when you are most at peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up, or going the wrong way."
After exploring our own responses (intention & attention; connection: with self, source, others; vulnerability, leap of faith; structure, practice) we consulted a few others.
"Rituals are cairns marking the path behind us and ahead of us. Without them we lose our way." ~ Robert Fulghum
Best known for his words about Kindergarten, immortalized on bumper stickers and refrigerator magnets everywhere, Robert Fulghum published a wonderful book nearly 20 years ago titled From Beginning to End: The Rituals of Our Lives. Amidst his wonderfully relaxed stories are these nuggets:
Ritual gives structure and meaning to daily life: Those patterns that we ourselves repeat again and again because they bring structure and meaning to our individual and collective lives. Those things we do for the first time that, in fact, have been done by the human race again and again forever. Behavior that is regularly repeated because it serves a profound purpose.
Rituals are repeated patterns of meaningful acts. If you are mindful of your actions you will see the ritual patterns. If you see the patterns, you may understand them. If you understand them, you may enrich them. In this way, the habits of a lifetime become sacred.
"Ritual is the journey; the sacred is the destination." ~ Eileen London & Belinda Recio
In their book Sacred Rituals: Connecting with Spirit, London and Recio describe the role of ritual in embodying our intentions: "By acting out our intentions, we feel them more completely - in body, mind and soul." The Japanese tea ceremony master, they say, "enacts the greatness of little things, in ways that demand complete presence and participation." Tibetan sand paintings, swept away upon completionn "embody an intention to accept impermanence." London and Ricio echo Fulgham when they note, "Ritual binds us to the whole of creation, and it is in this bond that we can encounter the sacred."
I would love to hear about the rituals you employ. Here's a wonderful post by Holly Wren Spaulding about how legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp uses ritual at the beginning of the creative process, "when you are most at peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up, or going the wrong way."
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