It has come to my attention...

It has recently come to my attention that this web log is way, way, way, too freaking serious. I was going to embark on a series of posts about the meaning and purpose of ritual. Now, on second thought, I have decided...not. I still want to discuss it, but I want to do so at 'the festive board', as a philisophical discussion with like minded brethren over a glass of wine while at dinner after a degree ceremony.

I don't want to seem like I'm entirely copping out here. To follow up on my previous post let me relay this anecdote.

I remember when I was a newly raised Master Mason. I would attend each meeting and, while listening to the ceremony, become increasingly agitated with the material I was hearing. Oh yeah, sure, some of the ritual talks about high-minded ideas of moral precepts that are universal in nature. However, the bulk of it is highly repetitive and seemingly devoid of meaning. I would leave the meeting thinking, "Man, that's the stupidist thing I have ever done in my life. Why am I even here?" Then I would post obnoxious messages on Freemason forums looking for answers only to get vaugue replies that were more infuriating than the meeting itself.

However, a funny thing happened. About a week later, I would keep asking myself, "When is the next meeting?" I felt 'drawn' to it. Over time, as I found I could learn ritual, I began to feel a great familiarity with it; the more I knew, the more I wanted to be involved. It no longer seemed strange and weird, it seemed natural, right, and proper.

I kind of figured this would happen by the way. The average person doesn't realize it, but they have become aclimated to their own rituals. If you had never been to a Christian Church in your life and then showed up one day, for the very first time, and saw a Roman Catholic Mass you would think it was the weirdest damned thing you had ever seen. Let's say you had never been to a baseball game the, likewise, you might think it was the most boring and pointless exercise ever.

In either case, your perspective would be skewed because you had not become indoctrinated in that particular ritual.

There is something in human experience that makes ritual comforting. I don't know, maybe all of us (or most of us) have a touch of OCD. All I know is that performing a ritual ceremony (whatever it might be) with a group of friends makes you feel better at the end of the evening than you did when you started out.

I don't know if it means anything more than that, or even has to mean anything more than that, but for me it is enough. I value the time I spend with my brethren, and the delicious pancake and sausage breakfast I will have tomorrow morning will bear testament to that fact.

In the meantime, I am now challenging each of you who read this blog to embark on a ritualistic assignment of your own. You are all to watch, beginning to end, the Google Video linked above called 'Tunak Tunak Tun'. This is the #24 video on Google Video and I believe the ritualistic exercise will enrich your life just a tiny bit.