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Ritual Quotes

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Ritual Quotes

“Though normally the handshake simply confirmed the trustworthiness of an agreement, with perhaps an aura of divine protection, Attic grave reliefs suggest a further extension of the idea for they "show handshaking as a symbol of Faith at the parting between the dead and the living. Thus, handshaking was not only a sign of agreement among the living, but the gesture of trust and faith in the supreme departure." With us the handshake is hardly a conscious gesture, but nonetheless one does not expect to be attacked by someone with whom one has just shaken hands. A refusal of a proffered handshake, however, would make the ritual gesture conscious indeed: breaking the ritual raises ominous questions that would require an explanation.”

SocietyTrustMoralityCivilizationRitualCognitionHuman Species
Book:Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age
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“There is a profound connection between the sleep we get in our beds each night and the sacramental rest we know each Sunday in our gathered worship. Both gathered worship and our sleep habits profess our loves, our trusts, and our limits. Both involve discipline and ritual. Both require that we cease relying on our own effort and activity and lean on God for his sufficiency. Both expose our vulnerability. Both restore.”

TrustWorshipChristian LifeRitualSpiritual LifeSleep Habits
Book:Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life
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“Edgar picks up the mallet. The steer comes up close to him. Edgar looks into the animal's eyes and caresses its forehead. The cow stomps one hoof, wags its tail and snorts. Edgar shushes the animal and its movements slow. There is something about this shushing that makes the cattle drowsy, it establishes a mutual trust. An intimate connection. With his thumb smeared in lime, Edgar Wilson makes the sign of the cross between the ruminant's eyes and takes two steps back. This is his ritual as a stun operator.”

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Book:Of Cattle and Men
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“We tend to trust others with whom we share similar values or worldviews. The shared belief in the supernatural world accesible through trance, where one interacts with watchful ancestors and spirits might be a basis upon which trust could be built. If while ritually interacting with beloved ancestors, members of both groups pledge their mutual allegiance, then rivals might become friends and trading partners. Once again, a psychological resource, trust, gives access to the material resources of trade.”

ReligionSocietyTrustEvolutionCivilizationRitualEvolutionary PsychologyCohesion
Book:Ritual in Human Evolution and Religion: Psychological and Ritual Resources
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“For some people, the reward is the driving force behind the habit. We’ve already established that powerful neurotransmitters cause a chemical reaction to reward the ritual and increase pleasure (dopamine) and/or feelings of happiness and positive mood (serotonin). However, other neurotransmitters may also be involved, like endorphins (which reduce stress and alleviate pain) or oxytocin (which increases a sense of trust and intimacy).”

PositiveTrustIntimacyRitualRewardDopamineEndorphinsOxytocinSerotonin
Book:The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion
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“So, apart from casting runes, what other hobbies do you have? Forbidden rituals, human sacrifices, torturing? –”

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Book:Nightmarish Sacrifice
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“The unknown grayish mystifying forest was benumbed into frost-covered cold, and the tremendous pines towering above the dark marshy soil resembled a gathering of severe mute brothers from a forbidden ancient order worshiping forgotten gods no one had ever heard of outside of the world of secret occult visions.”

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Book:Nightmarish Sacrifice
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“Women and children are the tradition-carriers of the world. They pass on the folklore of hearth and kitchen, old beliefs, rites, superstitions, rituals, and customs. In the days when folklorists were inclined to make sweeping statements about the "strong feminine element" in folklore, it was argued that women and children were responsive to this field “because its origin antedates the emergence of reason." For many years old wives' tales were the target of ridicule, but in many old wives' tales there was, we know today, more than a bit of truth.”

WomenHistoryTraditionRitualWomen EmpowermentSuperstitionFolkloreWomen In Literature
Book:Ladies of Fantasy: Two Centuries of Sinister Stories by the Gentle Sex
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“And those who will carefully study the so-called 'Mosaic code' contained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, will see that, though Jahveh's prohibitions of certain forms of immorality are strict and sweeping, his wrath is quite as strongly kindled against infractions of ritual ordinances. Accidental homicide may go unpunished, and reparation may be made for wilful theft. On the other hand, Nadab and Abihu, who 'offered strange fire before Jahveh, which he had not commanded them,' were swiftly devoured by Jahveh's fire; he who sacrificed anywhere except at the allotted place was to be 'cut off from his people'; so was he who ate blood; and the details of the upholstery of the Tabernacle, of the millinery of the priests' vestments, and of the cabinet work of the ark, can plead direct authority from Jahveh, no less than moral commands.”

NumbersSacrificeMoralityBibleTheologyRitualStrictWrathTheftImmoralityJehovahHomicideYahwehThe BibleExodusLeviticusTabernacleProhibitionsAbihuBible MoralsJahvehMosaic CodeMosaic LawsNadab
Book:The Evolution Of Theology: An Anthropological Study
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“For a few moments, Edgar Wilson yields to the late afternoon sun that has not yet fully set, but that is rushing headlong into a moonless, starless night. He knows how to listen in silence, even when others are just sighing or snorting. Life in the country has made him like the ruminants, and being a cattleman, he is able to strike a perfect balance between the fears of irrational beings and the abominable reverie of those who dominate them. He sinks two fingers into the paint can and marks the foreheads of the four cornered cows.”

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Book:Of Cattle and Men
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“The anthropologist Arnold van Gennep coined the expression ‘rites of passage’ after noticing the important structural analogy between ceremonies of birth, puberty, initiation, marriage and death. The ceremonies, he argued, involve three components, ordered successively: separation of the individuals or groups from their previous condition; existence on the margin (marge) during which they remain suspended in limbo, and incorporation (agrégation) as participants in their new condition. Thus the initiation into full membership is preceded by a period of alienation, as the youth is cast out from childhood and care, and forced to earn the fruits of adult freedom. Imagine, however, a situation in which the adult world is clouded over: everything pertaining to adulthood has become dark, forbidding, treacherous. The only freedom lies in youth itself. Identity must be forged by the youth from his own adolescent experience – the experience of alienation, in which the protection of the adult world has been withdrawn, and nothing put in place of it. The traditional totems, which represent the continuity and longevity of the tribe, now lose their significance. The youth must construct his own totem, his own ceremonies of initiation and membership, his own sense of togetherness, while borrowing nothing at all from the expertise and knowledge of his forefathers. His dances must be formless and violent, so that only youth can dance to them; sexual pleasure, the mark of youth, must occupy the foreground of the ritual, but sex must be meticulously divorced from marriage and the birth of children. His totems must be formed in his own image – perpetually young, perpetually transgressive, perpetually incompetent. As he dances among his kind, such a youth will be conscious of a lack. All this commotion ought to mean something; it ought to be lifting him to a higher plane. But it leaves him exactly where he was – on the margin of society, enjoying a freedom that is empty since it has no goal. He tries to lift himself with drugs, and as a result sinks further into the void. His protest resolves itself at last in a strangulated cry – a song which sounds like music only when the drumming feet of adolescents sound along with it. And if he discovers words for this song, they will probably be these: I can’t find words to say About the things caught in my mind.”

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Book:An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture
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“By establishing a shared system of collective experiences and symbolic meanings, ritual helped to coordinate thought and memory, allowing a group of humans to function as a single organism. And because of its close connection to symbolism, rhythm and movement, as well as its role in demarcating the extraordinary from the ordinary, ritual has also been linked to the evolution of art.”

LifeArtReligionEvolutionAnxietyRitualEvolutionary PsychologyCopingHomo Sapiens
Book:Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living
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“We are among the first peoples in human history who do not broadly inherit religious identity as a given, a matter of kin and tribe, like hair color and hometown. But the very fluidity of this—the possibility of choice that arises, the ability to craft and discern one’s own spiritual bearings—is not leading to the decline of spiritual life but its revival. It is changing us, collectively. It is even renewing religion, and our cultural encounter with religion, in counterintuitive ways. I meet scientists who speak of a religiosity without spirituality—a reverence for the place of ritual in human life, and the value of human community, without a need for something supernaturally transcendent. There is something called the New Humanism, which is in dialogue about moral imagination and ethical passions across boundaries of belief and nonbelief. But I apprehend— with a knowledge that is as much visceral as cognitive— that God is love. That somehow the possibility of care that can transform us— love muscular and resilient— is an echo of a reality behind reality, embedded in the creative force that gives us life.”

LoveLifeGodWisdomReligionFaithSpiritualityBeliefEnergyCommunityMysteryDiversityHumanEthicsChoiceRitualReverenceArt Of LivingLife ForceTribeNonbeliefMoral ImaginationNew Humanism
Book:Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living
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“Voi, ielelor, măiestrelor, Duşmane oamenilor, Stăpânele vântului, Doamnele pământului, Ce prin văzduh zburaţi, Pe iarbă lunecaţi, Şi pe valuri călcaţi, Vă duceţi în locuri depărtate În baltă, trestie, pustietate, Ca spuma la soare, Iar capul cel deocheat Sa ramâie luminat, Curat, de boală scăpat, Ochii cei vătămători Şi de foc săgetători Înveliţi să fie cu perdele albe, Să nu mai privească la obraze dalbe. Descântece de iele Unde popa nu toacă, Unde fata nu joacă, Vă duceţi în gura vântului Să va loviţi de toarta pământului, Ieşiţi din mână, trup, picior, Şi să pieriţi sus într-un nor, Daţi omului sănătate Că sabie de foc vă bate!”

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Book:Legende și pasteluri
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“People have traditionally turned to ritual to help them frame and acknowledge and ultimately even find joy in just such a paradox of being human - in the fact that so much of what we desire for our happiness and need for our survival comes at a heavy cost. We kill to eat, we cut down trees to build our homes, we exploit other people and the earth. Sacrifice - of nature, of the interests of others, even of our earlier selves - appears to be an inescapable part of our condition, the unavoidable price of all our achievements. A successful ritual is one that addresses both aspects of our predicament, recalling us to the shamefulness of our deeds at the same time it celebrates what the poet Frederick Turner calls "the beauty we have paid for with our shame." Without the double awareness pricked by such rituals, people are liable to find themselves either plundering the earth without restraint or descending into self-loathing and misanthropy. Perhaps it's not surprising that most of us today bring one of those attitudes or the other to our conduct in nature.”

EarthHumanityNatureSacrificeRitual
Book:A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder
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“O The Ring and the Answer A Poem by Alexander Martini One carries the Ring. Not from pride. Not from power. But because he can. He knows the weight. He knows the whisper. He knows the lure of ruling. Yet he offers it forth. Not to command. But to share. Not from greed. But from grace. “Will you help to carry?” he asks. Not: “Will you rule?” But: “Will you unite?” And all reply: “Yes.” Not loudly. But true. Then the Ring loses its center. For power, shared, becomes responsibility. And responsibility, shared, becomes community. The burden grows lighter. Not because it fades. But because it is borne — by many, in love. The world is transformed. Not by victory over darkness. But by refusing to become dark. Yet beware, if the “Yes” is not born of truth, but of greed. Then the Ring is not shared. It multiplies. And many Rings mean not freedom, but fetters. For power without love remains power. And power without grace becomes tyranny. But when the answer comes from truth, power turns to light. Burden turns to love. And one Ring becomes — a circle. A circle that does not bind. But connects. This poem was inspired by the symbolic legacy of Tolkien’s Ring — reimagined through the lens of love, grace, and communal transformation.”

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Author:Alexander Martini
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“If you dare to make a momentous change to your life, love everyone and let go of all expectations. Lavish self-nurturing all over yourself each day. Fill yourself with the love and affection of nature. Feel sovereign and successful just as you are and watch how the Universe honors you wholly.”

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Book:Wildhearted Purpose: Embrace Your Unique Calling & the Unmapped Path of Authenticity
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“I don't mean to imply that I have found God in money burning. Actually, what I found there is NOTHING. But somehow I've come to understand, appreciate, gain an awareness of - none of these terms describe the experience properly - that NOTHING is sacred; that to create NOTHING from something, to put NOTHING into a university is made of things, is a sacred action, in and of itself.”

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Book:The Money Burner's Manual: A Guide to Ritual Sacrifice
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“I don't mean to imply that I have found God in money burning. Actually, what I found there is NOTHING. But somehow I've come to understand, appreciate, gain an awareness of - none of these terms describe the experience properly - that NOTHING is sacred; that to create NOTHING from something, to put NOTHING into a universe made of things, is a sacred action, in and of itself.”

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Book:The Money Burner's Manual: A Guide to Ritual Sacrifice
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“Stress is a survival mechanism that serves an obvious evolutionary function. When we are anxious, our autonomic nervous system releases a cascade of chemicals (stress hormones), which give our body instructions on how to prepare to face danger. Our heart beats faster to pump more blood to the muscles, and our breathing becomes heavier to provide us with more oxygen. Muscles tense up to protect us from injury and to facilitate fighting or running. Sweating helps cool the body down. Our attention increases, and our reflexes become sharper, keeping us alert. Stress acts as motivation, helping us to focus on our goals and rise to meet our challenges, whether those involve studying for an exam, flying a fighter jet or scoring that match-winning goal. In short, stress serves a purpose. The problem, however, is that beyond certain threshold stress ceases to be useful.”

LifeReligionEvolutionAnxietyStressRitualEvolutionary PsychologyCopingHomo Sapiens
Book:Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living
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“Evolutionary analyses suggest that stress is not what it used to be. For most of human history our ancestors lived in physical and social environment that were very different from what most of us experience today. Life in those environments imposed a set of selection pressures that shaped our species’ genome and behavior, leading to the evolution of anatomically modern humans. Although it is not entirely clear where exactly one should draw the line between them and more archaic forms, paleoanthropologists agree that by at least 50,000 years ago our ancestors were fully human.”

LifeReligionEvolutionAnxietyStressRitualEvolutionary PsychologyCopingHomo Sapiens
Book:Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living
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“{Wells discussing his experiences with Christianity} I realised as if for the first time, the menace of these queer shaven men in lace and petticoats who had been intoning, responding, and going through ritual gestures at me. I realised something dreadful about them. They were thrusting an incredible and ugly lie upon the world and the world was making no such resistance as I was disposed to make to this enthronement of cruelty. Either I had to come into this immense luminous coop and submit, or I had to declare the Catholic Church, the core and substance of Christendom with all its divines, sages, saints, and martyrs, with successive thousands of believers, age after age, wrong. ...I found my doubt of his essential integrity, and the shadow of contempt it cast, spreading out from him to the whole Church and religion of which he with his wild spoutings about the agonies of Hell, had become the symbol. I felt ashamed to be sitting there in such a bath of credulity.”

ChurchHellIntegrityShameCatholicUglyCrueltyRealizationCatholicismRitualContemptAgonyLieSubmissionCatholic ChurchLuminousBelieversCredulityChristendomMartyrsSagesDreadfulCoopDivines
Author:H.G. Wells
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“A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being re-minded of the wisdom of your own life. I think ritual is terribly important.”

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Author:Joseph Campbell
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“Solstice Hymn by Stewart Stafford Brittle bones upon the bitter green, Ancient oil poured anoints this night, Candlelit lifeline in a smothering void, The covenant of fire amid frosty siege. Nascent gold concubines the grey, Eternal changing of the guard secured. Traversing 'neath a Long Night Moon, With symptoms of mortality to allay. Let fear melt away as the last chillblain, Sun’s palest eye affirms striving will. Summer’s warmth radiates far horizons. The Northern Lights’ verdant star’s amen. © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

PhilosophicalMythologyRitualTranscendenceSpiritual PoetrySolsticeNorthern LightsWinter SolsticeYuleHymn
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“We don’t find God in temples and cathedrals. We don’t find Him by standing on a prayer rug or sitting in a pew. God appears when we love someone other than ourselves. And we continue to feel His presence when we do good for others. Because God is not found in mosques and synagogues. He resides in our hearts.”

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Author:Kamand Kojouri
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