Rituals

I was in Theories of Soceity class on Tuesday. We talked about Durkheimian theory and it helped me to articulate something that I am starting to realize.

Back when I started this blog, I had a negative view of rituals. Now, I don't think they are such a bad idea. If a ritual helps one to get into the mindset, that's fine. As long as the ritual does not become more important than the teachings of one's spiritual path, it's fine to me. I think the problem comes when the ritual becomes a burden and makes a person forget what's really important--love for God and love for others. Those two things pretty much cover it.

According to Durkheim, ritual is important in holding society together. This may be religious in nature of be of the civil kind. It helps to strengthen social bonds with others. How did I jump from the ritual in the context of a group to ritual in the context of the individual? Durkheim did a suicide study about one hundred years ago. He was not necessarily internested in the reasons individuals committed suicide, but in the rates of suicide in certian groups. He ascertained that Protestants had the highest rate of suicide while Catholics and Jews had the lowest. My professor claims that these rates are the same today. Durkheim reasoned that since Protestants are highly individualistic ("the priesthood of all", personal relationship with God, etc) and did not have many group rituals, there is less intergration into the group. There are fewer people to lean upon in times of hardship. This is Durkheim's view, mind you.

Since reading this, I have begun to think that group rituals (group prayers, etc...not necessarily the pageantry one sees in the Catholic church) are not a bad thing as long as the "leader" is not controlling of the individual's relationship with God. God himself is the deciding factor, and if a person feels that they need to take part some sort of communal activity, it's a good thing.

I hope this post was not too convoluted. Have a good weekend, all.