Am currently in the zionist controlled bit of palestine where people are all abuzz about the pass-over ritual/holiday..
Hence, probably, I was kind of thinking about rituals and religions, ritualistic religions, religions as rituals, religions that seemingly do not exist without rituals, and the rituals that might be religious free.. (eg theatre.. though religion might be a source.. ok.. take public opinion surveys..)
It seems that rituals, in and of themselves, provide a sort of comforting sense of truth.. Of something/stuff Being a truth, being universal accessible for all – like oxygen – despite the fact it mighty actually be very time and context limited..
The rituals that have mass participation, even as small gatherings of families, roughly at the same time, and the cyclic element of annual activity that one can link with people 100’s years ago doing similar kind of a thing, **ssems** at the moment like a sort of truth mimicing operation and production.
Like a universal “truth”, eg 1+1 = 2 of stuff anywhere. Or that the material Oxygen that is here on earth the same – as long as not proven otherwise – as it might be on a passing comment on the other side of the universe..
So are rituals, with their cyclic element, reafirming (instead of questioning) a communal shared narratives that by the very cyclicity, and the coming together, make the elements true.
In other words:
The ritualistic cyclicity mimics the “sense of cyclicity” that one gets when every time they try, 1+1 turns out a 2..
From that perspective, it seems to me that religions do provide a sort of meta narratives or something to that effect that are being kept via the cyclicity and sharing that rituals provide and turn stuff into meaningful truths..
The sense of truth, i think might be in other, more sane/secular, kind of settings..? eg the theatre, but say elections and public opinion polls.. hummm.. might not be the best examples because apart from elections, these do not have the repeat that something like christmass does.. But what about the world cup in football, or olympics..? How about the little cycles we make – habits – or even birthdays, burning-man, festivals?
Not sure.. Perhaps some stuff to check here from or at..?
Are truth