Introduction to the Study of Ritual

[@SeekersofUnity]

if you found this to be of value, please consider supporting our work: www.patreon.com/seekers :)

[@leonlee8524]

Burned incense last night and prayed for the first time, been on hard times and getting in touch with my spiritual side more - and then I awake and find this video waiting for me. I don't know if this counts as a synchronous event but I'll take it !

[@SeekersofUnity]

I’m glad the timing was propitious. Wishing you ease on your spiritual journey.

[@mldouglasjr]

I don't think I've ever subscribed to a page so fast.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Welcome :)

[@kazmystkowski]

Thank you Zevi for your razor-sharp intellect.

[@hilleyify]

He’s back! I’ve been waiting for you to drop new monologue content for a while now I’m sure this will be top shelf quality as usual

[@Silent-Speaker]

I could just imagine an overjoyed John Vervaeke exclaiming out loud with delight while watching this video 😂 Excellent!

[@jordanyanowitz8694]

Another wonderful video Zevi! Thank you for making this piece and sharing the beautiful and comprehensive work of Catherine Bell. It’s inspiring to think about the ways our ritual behaviors structure our understanding of the human place in the Cosmos. Makes me think how the ritual of refilling my car with gasoline is a sacrifice I am forced to pay in the religion of my country.

[@Lalalala22537]

A very interesting topic . Love watching your videos . Can you make a detailed video on Free will and Determinism and your personal thoughts on this topic . and also the question of morality

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you friend.

[@yehudaolesker9932]

This was worth waiting for! Thank you ❤

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you Yehuda. That’s very kind of you.

[@thishandleistacken]

Very surprised this did not pop up in my videos till now. Cant wait to dive in. Thanks for all you do :)

[@SeekersofUnity]

You’re most welcome 🙏🏼

[@Bildgesmythe]

Always a great day when you post a new video!

[@peretzk]

Excellent summation of the subject

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you Peretz.

[@ewrvwergwergwergwerg]

Watching this as I'm unpacking things into my new apartment. This is one of my favorite lectures and series of yours so far. And you know what? I think I *will* go ahead with setting up a little altar at home, actually. My sibling might look at me weird, but my parents will be glad to see that I've found my way back to the herd. Happy Lent!

[@DamienZshadow]

Absolutely brilliant breakdown. I couldn't imagine you going into greater depth or expanse on what this phenomenon we call ritual is and why we even try to name it in the first place. I am questioning everything I do and name now.

[@alohm]

wow, simply fantastic work. I argue that it is ritual alone, as Vedanta says: you do not have to believe, practice leads to the divine. Or St John of the Cross: These things are not understood when sought, but when practised and found.

[@shloimeslavin5309]

very intresting

[@visionplant]

Endlessly fascinating

[@Docky1409]

AWESOME

[@Xeper616]

Good video, just wanted you to know that the audio shifts from quiet to normal throughout the video

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you. My bad. I had some technical difficulties. My apologies. I hope it was bearable.

[@HowRadMKE]

A big one missing is Pierre Bourdieu and his "logic of practice" theory. That aside, I really enjoyed this video. I especially liked the short and sweet critiques, like "pretty wild stuff, Emile [Durkheim]." Another aside, I know why it's important to talk about Levi-Strauss but collectively as academics, I'd love nothing more than to erase his name and methods from being taught to future generations.

[@nunoalexandre6408]

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@keenanarthur8381]

I view religious rituals as a form of karma yoga, which is where we practice performing actions in alignment with dharma and without attachment to the outcome. The Vedas are primarily ritual manuals detailing elaborate sacrifices performed for material purposes like wealth, health, cows, gold, etc., but in Vedānta philosophies those external rituals were reinterpreted as symbols for internal, spiritually liberating yogic processes. Veda-influenced Tantra utilizes similar kinds of rituals for both magical and mystical purposes. The idea is that when you perform an action, it plants a karmic seed in the subconscious/causal body (kāraṇa śarīra) that will eventually bear fruit according to the law "you reap what you sow." Rituals plant very specific karmic seeds in the subconscious, which get woven into the collective causal matrix. In other words, waking reality is a collective projection of the subconscious in a similar way to how dreaming reality is an individual projection. Performing certain actions over and over again wears a groove (saṃskāra) in the causal body. Widespread religious traditions wear grooves into the aether/ākāśa through collective rituals that affect whole populations. As a yogī, I seek to replace unhelpful karmic patterns with beneficial karmic patterns that are aligned with Reality, and which will aid in the process of recognizing the underlying source of all karmic patterns.

[@intuitiveartist]

Thank you for sharing. I wish you great bounties on your journey

[@ivicahausm]

Sir! You are incredible!

[@randomchannel-px6ho]

"Ah it seems like the definition would be concise and simple. WRONG" Religious studies in a nutshell I'm personally fascinated by the overlap of this purview and that of altered states of conscious, the designs of rituals are often actually seemingly very clever and deliberate and can induce trances for example. It's an overlap between psychology and religion which absolutely needs more exploration, or at least a modern update as psychology has largely moved on from Jung.

[@laluna5548]

Great video! P.S. Something is wrong with the audio :(

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you. I know 😢

[@Robespierre-lI]

I don't know why people can't study religious and cultural diversity simply to appreciate the differences between us - instead of feeling conpelled to evaluate them as either incompatible with their own religious worldview or decide whether or not to incorporate them into their lives. We're all modern educated people. Just accept the secular world you already live in and enjoy it. Or rather, participate in the parta of it that give you peace and contentment - and simply don't participate in those that do not.

[@TheheadofJohn]

We are not at odds. We just do and side with our spirits. We use the methods to Contact but once the contact is made we can’t rely on what someone else did because they lived in a different time and in different circumstances. We , practitioners make our own path. At this point academia is just history. It’s useful but it’s not our own. ❤

[@ozymandias7309]

Western religion and rituals are more about social engineering and natural religion and rituals is more about keeping the contact alive if you know what I mean. It's theoretically the same but different in it's basis. That is my 1 cent understanding in a nutshell

[@foswex]

amamamazing video (lovve catherine bell forever). Have you read Awkward Rituals by dana Logan? would love to hear your thoughts

[@tweadz9846]

[@nottwo]

After watching this I still think rituals mostly just a system of thought control. Exclusive/separate group egos are worse and more destructive than individual egos.

[@BcClarity]

I

[@Slechy_Lesh]

21:02

[@anoncentur]

The only question that matters "Why did ____ say that?"

[@marvinhare]

Why do people think reborn is real. you die that's it live with it.

[@TheAlkhemiaStudio]

The topic in this video is rly amazing!!! Such a huge topic clearly explained in an amazing compilation. Thank you so much for your amazing work!!!! Hope you can get a better mic/recoder tho

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you friend. That’s very kind of you.

[@AdeebaZamaan]

I right witchuals.

[@mattmatt4916]

Masterbation is a significant ritual for most of us??

[@genghisgalahad8465]

For the algorithmic boost for now! Then a headlong dive into truly learning about ritual from the inestimable edifying Zevi of Seekers of Unity!!🎉🌌🙏🏞 I ehem knew Xunzi was distinct from Sun Tzu! Just as I knew Plotinus was distinct from Plato, ehem! 🎉 😅 Plus, this dive into ritual is serendipitously the universe wanting (as I hope it wants of and for me) me to learn about true deep ritual and showing me to let go of the concretized all too comfortable but no longer enlivening habits that we like to call and that I have made into compulsive complicating "ritual" whether it's routes to work or way of doing things, and that nothing is lost and all we have is this moment truly to learn and gain from and grow! 🎉 🌌

[@Silent-Speaker]

Great comment! I can't agree more ❤

[@genghisgalahad8465]

@@Silent-Speaker Thank you kindly! 😊 🙏