Ritual

The importance of ritual is something very near and dear to me.

Having been raised Catholic and growing to my own sense of spirituality that holds a more universal yet deeply personal quality, I still think of some of my experiences during childhood with great fondness. This became palpably clear one evening with colleagues in which we genuinely felt spooked by some disturbing events. We went around each sharing prayers, songs, and stories that brought us comfort at night as children. I shared the prayer my mother taught me that evoked a guarding angel to accompany me, a ritual that connected me to something beyond my small self.

“Angel de mi guardia, (My guardian angel) mi dulce compania, (my sweet companion) no me desampares (don’t leave my side) ni de noche (neither by night) ni de dia. (nor by day) En tus manos encomiendo mi alma mia (in your hands I entrust my soul). Amen.”

Joseph Campbell’s offerings on ritual are especially appealing to me. He suggests that anything we do consciously with intention becomes ritual, when we partake and understand the meaning in the metaphor.

A meal with friends or family, washing of hands, sport, spiritual practice, music, connection with nature or community, to the big acts of initiation and rites of passage. Through ceremonies, shared memories, culture, and inherited wisdom— we enact, we evoke, we release, we remember, we welcome, we transmute, we unite, we separate, we imagine into life, as a gesture of cosmic balance and order that roots us in our humanity and connects us to the transcendent.

Get Free by Major Lazer

Summer jam.

La Danza

Loving this state of flow, skill, movement, magic.

Psychology of Money with Aaron Kipnis

Such an invaluable approach to money from one of my beloved professors, Aaron Kipnis

"Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" by Father John Misty

A consideration on self-destructive parts of the personality.

On Becoming an Adult with Joseph Campbell

Psychology of Evil by Phillip Zimbardo

Such an important exploration on the paradox of human nature in relationship to power. 

“Great Life” by Caveman

Great life to live
Great life to live
It’s all you have to give
It’s all you have to give
Great life to live
Great life to live
It’s all you have to give
It’s all you have to give

Great life to live
Great life to live

They say you’re wrong
(It’s all you have to give)
It’s alright, it’s alright
They say you’re wrong
(It’s all you have to give)
It’s alright, it’s alright

Writers: James Carbonetti, Stefan Paul Marolachakis, Samuel Stephen Hopkins, Matthew Thomas Iwanusa, James Jeffrey Berrall