Religious Ritual from a Spiritual Naturalist Perspective

Last updated on: June 15, 2024 at 1:12 pm by Spiritual Naturalist Society

Religious Ritual from a Spiritual Naturalist Perspective 2024-06-15T13:12:59-04:00 Spiritual Naturalist Society

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

by Gregory Gronbacher

The sociologist of religion, Mircea Eliade, observed that religious ritual is a powerful means of creating “sacred space” and “sacred time,” pulling the participants out of the normal confines of the mundane moment.

The question I’d like to explore is what meaning and purpose might ritual play from a spiritual naturalist approach?

For those who subscribe to a supernatural worldview, religious ritual is often an actual opportunity for encountering God or the gods, for working and channeling religious energy or power or grace, and for bringing real change to the world.

Consider the Mass in the Catholic tradition. For the ardent believer, the Mass is the performance of a set of rituals that have salvific power in the world and in which God acts directly.

But what role does ritual play for those who don’t affirm a concrete, personal God, or deities, or supernatural powers or realities? If there’s no god listening or interacting, if there’s no supernatural power of any sort being unleashed or directed, then what’s the point of the ritual?

A Spiritual Naturalist Approach to Ritual
When one steps back and asks what is religion in the general sense, then the purpose of ritual begins to come into sharper focus.

Religion uses the tools of myth, narrative, symbol, metaphor, ritual, and moral and existential insights to increase a person’s awareness, sense of self and place, and to convey wisdom on how to live a good and meaningful life.

The unified goals of these practices is to foster wholeness in individuals and communities. These goals are operative whether one affirms a supernaturalist or naturalist understanding of religion and spirituality.

Even without a supernatural basis, ritual provides practical benefits; from a naturalist perspective, these benefits are primarily psychological and social.

Ritual implies repeated actions of significance made to convey meaning. Often rituals are used to make mythic narratives concrete and part of the present moment. Other times, ritual is used to alter consciousness, open awareness, direct focus, and challenge our hearts and minds, consciously and unconsciously.

Ritual seeks to evoke what some call a “peak experience” – the integration of the diverse parts of the mind, specifically those called consciousness and the other unconsciousness.

Participation in ritual activity allows people to embody a sense of their place in a larger order of things. Ritual is a powerful marker of identity and group membership.

A ritual may have a history that links participants with ancestors as they perform a sequence that has been repeated innumerable times. It may connect participants with community through sharing the repetition of familiar words, songs, gestures, sounds, and dances. It may be something new, created specifically for a particular time, place, and purpose.

Ritual provides a frame for expressing and celebrating what is meaningful and reclaiming connection with self and others. The order imposed by meaningful ritual allows us to reflect our values and convey messages to self and the community about who we are and what we are experiencing.

Ritual and Celebration
Humans have a deep seated need to celebrate. Celebrations often mark transitions. It acts as closure of the past and initiation for the future. We celebrate births, marriages, graduations, even the lives of those who have passed. Some celebrations have historical events connected to them, others have religious or cultural content, some blend all of these elements.

Holidays are scheduled, regularly occurring celebrations. They commemorate some event, anniversary, or happening and do so on a regular basis on the calendar. Holidays vary since they are religiously, culturally, or nationally based celebrations. Think of the 4th of July or Memorial Day or Thanksgiving or Christmas and the various associations that ground such celebrations becomes clear.

Many holidays, if not all, have ritual aspects. The notion of ritual tends to evoke overt religious rites and practices such as church attendance, candle lighting, communion, and so on. But special meals, trick or treating, putting up a Christmas-Solstice tree, drinking apple cider in the Fall, having turkey at Thanksgiving – these too, are all rituals which are meaningful, and fun, with or without overt religious content or association.

You don’t have to believe in any particular mythological or theological doctrines to do such celebrations. The seasons themselves have inherent themes and evoke natural moods and emotions that lend themselves to understanding the meanings within.

Everyday life is stressful, somewhat disorienting, and full of uncertainty. Having a special time of the year when we know exactly what to do, the way we’ve always done it, provides a comfortable sense of structure, control and stability.

Ritual and Creativity
Rituals need not be held in churches or religious buildings and led by clergy. Family Sunday dinners are a ritual. Putting up a Christmas tree is a ritual. Making certain foods for certain occasions is a ritual. Singing Happy Birthday with cake and candles is a ritual. Our lives are filled and punctuated by rituals.

Many, although not all, spiritual naturalists practice an eclectic or highly personal spirituality. In these circumstances, given the lack of an established specific tradition, those seeking to develop some form of new or personalized spirituality will have to face the challenge of creating new rituals.

No one need reinvent the wheel. Candle lighting, meditation-prayers, celebratory meals, storytelling and poetry reading – these, and other common religious activities can be augmented to create meaningful rituals of one’s own.

To conclude, I’d argue that no spiritual practice fulfills its meaning unless it make us a better, more whole and loving person.

Spiritual Naturalism

Ritual

Previous Post

June 15, 2024

You Already Have It

Next Post

June 22, 2024 How Spiritual Naturalism Could Save Our Future

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Spiritual Naturalism Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 August 2017 July 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 January 2015 December 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz