Why Ritual?
Many of you may be asking, "Why should I bother with a ceremony to mark a particular time or event in my life? Isn't ritual a thing of the past? Aren't we more "evolved" now?" or "I don't belong to a specific religion, so why would I participate in their ceremonies?"
To which I would reply, ritual and celebration are most definitely NOT a thing of the past nor are they an evolutionary indicator. In addition, while most religions have incorporated ritual into their practices, ritual existed quite a long time before religion. Ritual has more to do with how the mind processes events, transitions and crisis, as well as how individuals and groups (within a society) relate and move through life.
Maybe an easier way to look at it is this; ritual is a psychological and sociological set of instructions, if you will, that help guide one through difficult or confusing times, or help celebrate important moments or events in a way that expresses the significance of their occurrence.
While we touched on the benefits of ritual on the homepage of this site, let's recap here:
From birth to death, we all grow and move through transitions. Some of these transitions will pose challenges while others may not. Most of them will mark a time of personal growth. Through ritual, we can help ourselves and our loved ones move through these transitions in a more positive and beneficial way, allowing us to learn more about ourselves, accept deeper responsibilities, take on new roles, relate differently to others and awaken to new opportunities or new realities.
Consquently, ritual can serve to enrich and enhance our overall life experience by acting as a sort of guide book or maybe more like sign posts pointing or marking the way. Ritual gives us the courage to forge ahead when the path becomes difficult because we have a sense of where we're going, and how to get there, and the comfort of knowing that others have gone before, and found their way.