Recent Entries
Skillshare Learn anything from anyone. Share your skills and...
Learn anything from anyone. Share your skills and learn with other remarkable people in your community. It’s not in Boston yet… but if it were I could take a Chocolate Making Workshop or How to Travel Around the World Before You’re 65.
Pretty cool idea
WhatFont Bookmarklet lets you hover over any text on a page and...
WhatFont Bookmarklet lets you hover over any text on a page and find out what font is being used.
Jordi Parra’s Spotify Box This is a really interesting degree...
This is a really interesting degree project by Jordi Parra with fantastic documentation of the entire process.
Josh Nimoy on the secrets behind the special effects in Tron...
Josh Nimoy on the secrets behind the special effects in Tron Legacy via Core77
Reading this makes me want to spend a few weekends watching and recording all the crappy hacks in old tech movies.
The Wooden Cover to go with the iPad I don’t own ;) by...
The Wooden Cover to go with the iPad I don’t own ;)
by Miniot
Cloud Girlfriend Generating fake facebook girlfriends for single...
Generating fake facebook girlfriends for single guys everywhere.
….really!? Again this does exist.
Some thoughts on Rituals
What is a ritual? How do rituals bring people together to form communities?
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of a daily rituals is my morning cup of coffee at my desk; checking my email, catching up on Facebook and my google reader, and maybe posting an update on Twitter. I need to do these things every morning, they are part of my ritual, and when something breaks up this series of actions I feel disconnected. Could these daily interactions, with friends and complete strangers actually be creating a community?
Historically rituals were used as a way to form and strengthen community bonds. Religious worship, feasts, town halls, town meeting, marriage ceremonies, graduations, musical performances and sporting events were all activities that brought people together socially.
Some modern interpretations of analog rituals are Holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, the 4th of July), family meals, going to the movies, and the local coffee shop. We come together with family, friends, and strangers to share stories and find acceptance in these places.
Our newer digital rituals include, checking email, Skype, Facebook, and Twitter, which I think we are also using as places to come together socially with family, friends, and strangers. We look to these communities to find acceptance in similar way we would in church, at family meals, and in places like the local coffee shop.
Are the bonds formed in new digital communities as strong as our traditional ones? Can I really equate the emotions and feeling of connections I find in my Christmas traditions with family to an online interaction?
The lines between traditional become blurred to me as I begin recording the details of one of my rituals:
What Ritual is This?
I see the same group of people every day.
I don’t always speak directly with them face-to-face, as we are coming and going at separate times.
I might know people’s faces and names, but may not have had a conversation with them.
We share intimate moment and experiences together in the same space.
I feel an unspoken connection with the people in this space.
The ritual described above is Mysore style Ashtanga Yoga, an ancient self-lead practice that follows a specific series of postures. You practice on your own, often in a room with many other practitioners starting and finishing at various times. I have been practicing daily for two years now and consider my “yoga” friends to be very close friends, and have incredibly emotional ties to both the practice and people. Due to it’s independent nature I can sometimes begin and complete my practice in a room with 20 other people (all sweating and pushing ourselves physically and emotionally) without ever speaking a word, I might only nod my head to the teacher as I arrive and leave. There are a few people with whom I have yet to have a full conversation. I know there names as I hear the teacher instruct them to straighten a leg or touch there head, and I feel an intense connection as we spend up to 2 hours every morning sharing good and bad days, hearing the strained breathing of a difficult posture or a triumphant exhale in a long awaited achievement.
As I recorded these levels of connections and interactions in Mysore they seemed so similar to my interactions on Twitter or Facebook, familiar faces, shared stories, independent timing. How quickly I discount these rituals as less meaningful because of the lack of face-to-face time and unsynchronized schedules and goals. Could they really be forming communities with comparable strengths?
The further I explore my feeling of community in Mysore the more I think there is something much deeper than what I have found in any online community - though the “need” is still there. I need my morning ritual of Ashtanga as much as I need my coffee and internet time, maybe I’m not dedicating myself to Twitter as deeply as I have my yoga practice. There are people I have met that find deep and meaningful connections online. This is certainly and area I need explore more.
Some potential reading I have added to my list:
Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions
by Catherine Bell
Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity
by Roy A. Rappapor