Our Human Need for Ritual

Everyone values ritual. If you don’t believe that, allow a group of people to become accustomed to a procedure and then change it. At work. In your home. At church. Anywhere. People resist change because they value ritual.

But what makes ritual valuable? I heard something the other day that kind of answered it in a way I’d not thought of before.

The thing about ritual is that it…it…it tells an essential lesson.  It… it tells you things are same as they always were. The same as they always were, but different. You know, it’s like birthdays. ~Larry Harvey, “The guiding spirit behind Burning Man”

Maybe our love for ritual has some of its roots in our need for security.

At work. In the home. In church. Even at events like Burning Man.