|
|
Many people that get involved in occult matters often wonder at the usefulness of ritual. What is it, and how is it beneficial? Is it beneficial at all, or is it merely an elaborate way of filling in time until we die?
The Human species have always struck me as quite bizarre creatures. Not the most elegant or beautiful to look at or even the most organized or efficient, but we are interesting to watch. Why? Because a lot of what we do centers about doing seemingly mind-numbing things, namely ritual.
If you were to follow the Darwinian theory, ever since we crawled out of the primordial swamp we have spent a heck of a lot of time praising some deity we constructed and the rest of that time living in fear of Him. The Sumerians, Chinese, Indus Valley, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Inca’s and Aztecs to name a few centered their entire social and cultural interactions to the benefits of the Rulers who were considered to be either Gods, descendants of, or their representatives. Anthropologists have traced back the practice to Cro-Magnon man some 20,000 years B.C.E?. And your don’t have to look to far a field to see we haven’t evolved much since.
Ritual probably isn’t what most people think it is. It can be seen as formal (ceremonies) or informal (conditioned habits). A considerable amount of documented or formal ritual pertains to such religious actions. However there is also a equally large amount of ritual that people are unaware of, that are informal or daily rituals. Getting out of bed the same time every morning, brushing your teeth, going to your place of work, eating you dinner in front of the 6 o’clock news. Same Shit, Different Day. It's really scary to consider how much of our daily life is ritualized, some would say it is habitual and not ritual but its all much the same thing. A habit is anything you do repeatedly, a ritual only differs because we say “it has Depth” of meaning, or in the words of Clifford Geertz it has thick description.
What is ritual? Ritual is elaborate and meaningful practices which goes beyond the explicit function of its action. It is anything that follows a pattern of action, a sequence. It can be driving your car to work the same time every workday, along the same route. Ritual also has symbolic meaning behind that action. Now I’m not talking about, “you brush you teeth a certain way because God and all his Cherubs will be happy with you”. No, it may simply be that you brush your teeth a certain way because you reason: “its faster that way”, “it feels nice/clean that way”, “that’s how my parents taught me and I never changed”, “or I’ve just always done it that way so why change”. Our rationale is not free from habitual thought. Now I’m not making an opinion on your reasoning, but I am telling you that if you have one, think again why and maybe break up your patterns?
Why do people channel surf television stations when they know after five minutes of doing so, that there is still nothing good on TV? Probably because we are all becoming to lazy. Apathy and entropy seems to be the evils of the current generation more than ever before. TV is not interact, it rarely gives us something truly provocative. Nietzsche called this laziness the “sickness of Modernity”. Once, seeing starving children or bits of dead people in Third World countries would prompt us into action. Now, we have been desensitized by media saturation of so called provocative images. Repetition is conditioning. Repetition is conditioning. Repetition is conditioning. Repetition is conditioning. Do you understand ... good. Habits are formed by repetition. Habitual behaviour is a part of ritual. As any Psychologist can tell you, habitual behaviour is a conditioning process. It directly effects the mind. Now it is up to us individually to use this powerful tool, which is ritual, either for our own good or detriment.
Yes, ritual can be a good thing. The mind can be compared in some respects to a storage container. Many self improvement books will tell you that, GARBAGE IN = GARBAGE OUT. Not a truer word has been spoken. Performers know that practice makes perfect, unless your doing it wrong, which will lead to the formation of bad habits. And that’s a no no.
But how is this a relevant to ritual specifically? Now from what I understand of formal performances is that it does several important things; 1) It forms a group cohesion through immediate interaction with others, 2) latter group cohesion through the relating of personal experiences with others in the performance 3) to say something important that needs reaffirming 4) a focal point for attention of which the entire ritual revolves around, 5) creates a feeling of otherness which is important in defining the boundaries of your cosmology.
It is the intent of all ritual ceremonies to make you feel like you belong. WARNING, WARNING. How often to do see this in the world! The need to belong is unarguably one of the strongest desires in Humans, if not the strongest. Herd conformity, group acceptance and approval (on a lesser and grand scale), finally leading to the reconstruction of the personal Ego and self acceptance, and all this is often done in the name of GOD. Come off it people, learn to love yourself for who you are!
Ritual behaviour is often a reaffirmation of some ideal sometimes hidden in a reenactment of an event. And like the Koan of Zazen meditation, any ritual that integrates repetitive phrases or actions, possibly as a form of worship, in an attempt towards an altered state of consciousness, is going to bury thoughts in the sub-conscious mind. Why you might ask, because it is once in these states the internal dialogue of the mind ceases and a tranquillity or Transcendent state occurs, (due to the brain wave activity slowing down). This is attributed, in all cultures that I have studied, as a God state. Now in group ceremonies the use of a focal point is need to externalize and interrelate a single thought process. Many people have stated in the process of the ritual a person can define themselves in their cosmology. Many books have been written of the subject of the Axis Mundi (the center focus of performing ritual), so I shall only give a synopsis here. (Mircea Eliade, Sacred and Profane is a great read for this).
It is said that in ritual performance, the performer deconstructs and reconstructs their entire cosmology. This is done by the performer redefining the space around themselves physically to create a sacred space. This space separates the mundane from the profane. Psychologically it is meant to alter the performers perception of the material world that they take for granted, for another world with which powerful forces are at work that shape the mundane world. In a sense it is said to be a “lifting of the veil”. Two worlds come into play and are separated physically by say “a line in the sand” and that lines impression of the performers psyche.
In the center of this sacred space is the focal point, either the performer or an object of attention, this is called the Axis Mundi. It becomes the center of the new cosmology from which all things revolve around and relate to. We are all familiar with the consecration of the circle and the pentagram in the Western Esoteric Tradition. It differs not from other shamans. Practitioners of western magic often path work, a psychological tool for mapping the mind. No doubt you would be aware that the Cabala is one form popular to do this. It is much a similar thing that many shamans do physically that some magicians choose to do mentally. The redefining of Self with Other as a formative process of Identity is central to all formal ritual work. You may like to read that last line again, it is crucial to the reasoning of ritual.
Bottom Line
The stuff I have discussed is very powerful magic. Yes we’ve heard
it all before, magic is dangerous, be careful...blah...blah. But
no ever explains why. BECAUSE, YOU ARE MESSING WITH YOUR MIND.
Ritual ceremonies are powerful psychological tools that can change how
you think by manipulating your experiences. * * * *
In effect ritual, when done properly is Self-Brainwashing. * *
* * *
Do I think it is necessary? Possibly not. However, seeing
that ritual being an extension of condition cannot be avoided, we should
make it a slave unto our Will instead of us to it. The danger of
ritual is that it can lead to the formation of stagnation, a stasis where
human existence seems pointless from one day to the next. It can also make
you conform to a herd. So often this is the case of Christian Church
Services. The benefit of ritual, and it can be beneficial, is that
it can also break these very same habits. Ritual, if used creatively
for short periods, can bring about the most important thing, CHANGE. It
is up to you what goes in your head. So Be Wise. The opportunity
is for each of us be to Masters of ourselves instead of slaves.
Change is dynamic, it is evolution, it is alive, it is what existence thrives on. The entire Multiverse has always been in a state of change. Change is natural, stasis is not. Ritual if used with discretion can be the process to unshackle your life from monotony instead of creating monotony.
“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell in Heav’n
...Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.”
-Milton, Paradise Lost.
- Barry Phillips,
March, (revised December) 1998.
ua961751@student.adelaide.edu.au