Ritual of life
What is the ceremony?
For friends, the sense of ritual is a very abstract thing. Although many cases of ritual have been mentioned, it is still hard to imagine. After an in-depth conversation, we found that maybe we should discuss “ritual” before understanding the ritual.
What do you think of when you think of rituals?
Many people’s impression of the ceremony is religious, but for me, the first time I felt the ceremony was at my grandfather’s funeral. I remember those two very beautiful MCs. So far, the details of the farewell ceremony have been forgotten. There are many, but the MC is still remembered.
Visiting worship, chanting scriptures, worshiping, lighting incense, and the god table are all religious “ceremonies”. But I think this is a narrow definition. In a broad sense, life is full of rituals, such as we cry when we break up, deleting messages and photos of our ex, and when we are in a good mood, we reward ourselves with a cup of precious milk, A slice of ultra-high-calorie chicken steak, cake, and more are all rituals.
Why there is a ceremony?
For me, the ritual has three levels of meaning: respect, immersion (situation), and transformation. For the ceremony, these three meanings complement each other, and sometimes they are independent, but sometimes they exist independently. Li Sheng may be the best representative!
I vaguely remember that what I was thinking at the scene was not sad, but curious about the meaning of such a gesture.
After I grew up, I realized that all the behaviors of the farewell ceremony are “farewell”. The deliberate gesture shows the “ritual sense” of the farewell ceremony so that everyone in the farewell ceremony feels that this etiquette team is “respected”. “Emphasis” on this ceremony.
Farewell, or any form of farewell requires a stage. The first thing is to “immerse yourself in the experience” of the matter, and then our mood can “change”.
The farewell ceremony is the graduation ceremony of life, and the graduation ceremony of the school is also such a ceremony.
Tea ceremony
Perhaps the farewell ceremony is a bit too heavy, another less heavy life ritual, perhaps the most representative one is “culture”, among which I have studied and indulged a little bit, is the “tea ceremony”.
The orthodox tea ceremony is serious and has a whole set of procedures. It is a ceremony of “hospitality”. The Japanese tea ceremony is the focus of Japanese culture because Japanese culture attaches great importance to “rituals”. This ceremony extends to “the ceremony of hospitality”. , embodied as a “tea ceremony”.
Common Ritual Types
The ceremonies mentioned above are especially standardized ceremonies, which will give people a more serious, troublesome, and cumbersome feeling, but in fact, ceremonies are full of small corners of our lives, or all walks of life. Here are a few simple examples.
Suits
Formal attire is worn in many industries. Such attire represents respect for work and immersion in professionalism and service. The process of putting on a suit or suit is also a ceremony of identity transformation.
Modern people eat
Modern people will take photos of the food that is about to be eaten or record the remains of the food. This is an immersive experience of food and a ritual to cultivate eating emotions.
Western food
Drinking red wine to shake the wine glass to sober up, the order of using knives and forks, and the use of napkins are all rituals of Western food. These are rituals of respect for the chef and other guests.
Company meeting or event
In some more formal meeting occasions, there will be a speech by the chief officer, the master of ceremonies will read the program, and someone will speak. This process is also a kind of ceremony, announcing the start of the event (change of situation), or allowing the participants to immerse themselves in this occasion.
classical photography
Mobile phone photography is the least ritualistic photography behavior. For monocular or professional photography situations, the adjustment of photography parameters is a ritual, while for classical photography, it involves complicated camera settings, film placement, filming, and even the darkroom.
Hospital
There are also many ceremonies in the hospital, such as the various professional actions of the nurse before the injection, or the dean’s rounds in the medical drama, etc., which are all ceremonies in the hospital, and are all to express respect for patients.
Dating
Take me out, ask me out the old-school way, and after I say no to you twice, I’ll nod the third time. Don’t leave messages on Facebook, and don’t use What’s App to temporarily ask me if I’m free. Only on walks do we really talk, old-fashioned. — The Essentials of Old-School Dating
Epidemic
In the past, when we entered a public office or entered any field, we went in directly, but after the epidemic, we added a “disinfection and check-in ceremony”. , Do you feel that when you enter any place, the smooth code scanning, body temperature, and disinfection are a little more romantic with a sense of ritual?
Proposals for several life rituals
It is getting closer and closer to the sense of ritual, but before I talk about the sense of ritual, I would like to share a few life proposals with a sense of ritual, which may help us find out what is our sense of ritual.
Many people think that life is difficult enough, who cares about the sense of ritual? How could there be a sense of ritual? But perhaps, the sense of ritual is actually not that difficult.
Braces make eating a ritual
Before I entered the life of braces, I hated braces very much, but now I have been wearing braces for a year, and I fell in love with the feeling of braces. I used to eat whenever I wanted, and I didn’t care about dental health. After wearing braces, you need to remove the braces before eating, brush your teeth and wear braces after eating, and now there are more rubber bands, so it has become brushing teeth, wearing braces, and tying rubber bands after meals, making eating a ritual.
Sudden Advanced Arrangement
When chatting with my friends, I mentioned several rituals of eating. One can be to buy a hamburger at home, put it on a plate, and eat it with a knife and fork, or take two or three French fries and put them in a large bowl. On the plate, dip a spoon in tomato sauce and spread a clove of sauce on the blank space of the plate. This kind of fast food seems to be very advanced! (Friend replied: Don’t play with food!)
reading nook
Maybe we can get rid of other people’s reading experience, change the habit into reading by ourselves, find a corner at home, put a lamp, and create the most comfortable reading corner, whether you are drinking a little alcohol in that corner, or reading digital magazines with a tablet, are a rare sense of ritual in life.
Pick up a pen and write whatever you want
Computers have replaced our lives, sometimes we may simply forget the beauty of writing, pick up a pen! Find a random piece of white paper, whether you want to scribble, copy chicken soup sentences, or write down the lines in the process of chasing dramas, “writing” can also bring a sense of ritual to life.
Let the life out of rhythm
Are you ruled by habit? Our lives are easily dominated by our own habits, and we gradually lose our sense of happiness. Remember the first day when you moved into the rental house? Or the nervousness of the first day at work? Or is it the excitement of completing a project for the first time? If you follow the rules of habit every day, you might as well break the rules once in a while!
For example, you take the MRT every day, transfer at a fixed transfer station, then take a fixed route, and enter the company at a fixed time to start work. So, this time, you might as well change the alley, change the transfer method, get up earlier and take the bus, or take a detour to buy a cup of coffee, which will make going to work a little more ritual.
Capture unseen beauty
The world is too chaotic, the city is too noisy, we are too used to it, and we will ignore what is happening around us! If you commute every day and wear headphones to watch your phone, you might as well turn off the sound and look up at the people passing you, which is also a sense of ritual.
Experience different life possibilities
Have you tried something different? It is those who you will say “Oh, I can’t do it!” The hair you have turned into neat short hair, do you still remember “The Meaning of Travel”? In fact, a walk-and-go trip is the fastest way to experience the different possibilities of life.
Slip some small things with a sense of ritual
In fact, you can add a sense of ritual to your life and environment by buying some small items with a sense of ritual.
For example, Andy recently wanted to improve his sedentary work habits, so I bought an hourglass to replace the mobile phone timer and Pomodoro, which is a small ritual.
Of course, there are also some small things that allow me to perform “ceremonies”. For example, I was once fascinated by Japanese and Chinese (Chinese) tea ceremonies, so I first bought matcha, then I bought a tea bowl and a complete set of matcha utensils. Lay a floor mat, put the tea bowl on the ground, and make a cup of matcha for yourself as if you are a tea ceremony teacher (of course, you must turn the tea bowl three times before drinking).
The tea culture of Eastern Chinese culture is reflected in tea making and tea seats. In order to experience this, I went to consult the predecessors who made tea, learned how to make tea, what temperature should be matched with what kind of tea, and bought a favorite teapot. I picked a few teacups, bought a tea seat and a tea sea, and even simulated the arrangement of a tea table on a tea table!
This money is actually unnecessary expenses, but sometimes these expenses will allow me to learn and experience a different lifestyle.
From ceremony to ceremony
Having said so much, what a sense of ritual may already have an answer. No matter what the answer is, it is correct. After all, the sense of ritual is a spiritual experience. Everyone has a different definition of the sense of ritual...
The sense of ritual can arouse our respect for our inner self, and make us live every day of our life more seriously.
It is what makes one day different from other days — “The Little Prince”
A ceremony is a very important thing. It makes us feel the awe of the things we care about, and makes us remember and cherish life more. — — Haruki Murakami
To me, the sense of ritual is to put “respect”, “immersion” and “transformation” into life. Anything to achieve these three things can be a sense of ritual.
The sense of ritual is not a theory and should not be pursued, but a state of mind.
We all talk about “rituals”, but what about “feelings”? In fact, I have been thinking about the sense of ritual for many years and found that “feeling” is the key point of the sense of ritual. For Lisheng mentioned above, for Lisheng, would such a ritual be “feeling”? Probably not, because that has become their daily routine.
The sensation is a feeling. When we get used to it, we will not feel it. For example, people who do not eat spicy food will be very sensitive to the pain of spicy taste, but for a person who is used to spicy food, spicy taste is a part of life, so for him, what makes him feel is not the spicy taste, but “not spicy”.
Some people say that the sense of ritual comes from “importance”. When attention becomes a daily routine, the “sense of ritual” becomes a “ritual”. The sense of ritual is an excess, a way to bring us closer to a deep life. When we learn to taste life, it may be easier to become boys and girls with texture.
Many people are talking about the sense of ritual, but perhaps when we define or pursue it too much, the sense of ritual seems to be “vulgar”, just like giving gifts on birthdays is a sense of ritual, but when we ask others to give gifts, That doesn’t feel right…Maybe, what we should be pursuing is “ritual practice” or “different rituals”.
Do you also have your own ritual life proposal?
