Quotes About Rituals

It was passed on by the hook-nosed herdsmen of the grasslands, from the dwellers in tents to the dwellers in the squat stone cities where kings with curled blueblack beards worshipped round-bellied gods with curious rites.

passed on by the hook-nosed herdsmen of the grasslands, from the dwellers in tents to the dwellers in the squat stone cities where kings with curled blueblack beards worshipped round-bellied gods with curious rites.

not trouble his head about them; he knew that Zamora's religion, like all things of a civilized, longsettled people, was intricate and complex, and had lost most of the pristine essence in a maze of formulas and rituals.

Birthdays in Lucy's world were always celebrated, never forgotten: there must be cake and candles and cards and presents; time must be marked, order preserved, traditions upheld.

It was a secular cathedral, dedicated to the rites of travel.

But the existence of a cult does not mean that images appropriate to it automatically follow.

Our own culture has pseudo-rituals instead. There are many pseudo-initiations for men in our culture. Conscription into the military is one. The fantasy is that the humiliation and forced nonidentity of boot camp will "make a man out of you." The gangs of our major cities are another manifestation of pseudo-initiation and so are the prison systems, which, in large measure, are run by gangs.

Broke the ice with, "Don't you think it curious that men shake hands with the same hand they use to wipe their arses?

In any case, many of the rites that became public had in fact originated in the family. A Roman's house was like a temple, and the paterfamilias its hign priest.

Even in the fourth century (in the heart of the Christian Empire), the natales of the eighteen deified emperors were celebrated;

Lamps were not left burning on the table when dinner was over; before going to bed, the mistress of the house - who had a part to play in family priestly duties - saw to it that the house was swept, the lararium and the hearth carefully cleaned.

All of this follows from a time in history when procedures have taken command over rituals. A moment that is elusive, hard to establish, since the two powers also have features in common. First of all, they are both formalized actions. But they aim in opposite directions. Ritual aims toward perfect awareness, which for Catholics is the moment of transubstantiation. Procedures, on the other hand, point toward total automatism. The more procedures multiply, the more the realm of automata expands.

ten ancient yet supremely effective rituals

So, Art [Green] said, it's hard to do Judaism and travel light. Judaism is not mostly about letting go, but mostly about attachment to God, through attachment to tradition, attachment to forms.

Even if they hated going to church and knew very little of Christianity, Europeans in the era of the Reformations were not irreligious. But, as Gerald Strauss put it, they 'practiced their own brand of religion, which was a rich compound of ancient rituals, time-bound customs, a sort of unreconstructable folk Catholicism, and a large portion of magic to help them in their daily lives for survival'.

Magic consultations, secret rites, and votive actions are not absent from the amorous subject's life, whatever culture he belongs to.

He must have felt that his own health would be jeopardized if he varied his rituals.

Perhaps these daily rituals helped him to deal with underlying tensions that might otherwise have become ungovernable, for although he tried to project an air of unhurried calm, he was under terrific strain in creating his oil empire.

Being ex-military is like being a lapsed Catholic. Even though they're way in the back of your mind, the old rituals still exert a powerful pull.

at a time when mystical incantation was more valued than mathematical calculation.

It's strange how deliberate people are after a death. All the indecision suddenly vanishes into clear, defined moments - changing the linens, choosing a dress or a hymn, the washing up, the muttering of prayers. All the small, simple, conscious acts of living a sudden defense against the dying we do every day.

If you want to find out what it means to have a society without any rituals, read the New York Times.

The customs and practices of life in society sweep us along.

Many of us who have experienced psychedelics feel very much that they are sacred tools. They open spiritual awareness.