Your Rituals Are Killing Us All
Look at the human mating ritual. Despite ever-changing social rules and expectations — everything from courting and inciting, through dating, engagement, and marriage, to potential break-ups or divorces — one look, one nod, then a quickie somewhere out of public sight is all it takes for humans to mate. That is all of the natural ritual that is actually necessary, and the people involved may not even meet again. The rest are just elaborate ornaments.
The same is true when you consider obtaining sustenance. We dress up, even if informally, so we blend in and don’t offend; we commute, even if only on foot and few blocks away; we do, or at least pretend to do, some activity, and we (at least vaguely) understand how it contributes to all of society, even if that justification is made up entirely; and we get credits for our work according to some arbitrarily made up criteria, so we can finally exchange those credits for what we actually need — drink, food, medicine, clothing, and a comfy shelter.
Human being is obviously a different kind of animal. Metaphorically but also literally. What sets us apart is meta-cognition, a “higher pattern processing” of abstract symbols. In practical terms it means that, for example, while many animals are self-aware, we are also aware that we are self-aware. And it is precisely this feature that is also at the root of our creativity, of all of our toys and all of our art (which are, however, always just byproducts no matter the case).
Alas, instead of targeting our creativity at the abstract symbols only, we have virtualized our, otherwise very simple and streamlined, instinctual rituals and brought their complexity to absurd levels. Instead of building toward knowledge of truth, we used our faculties to refine our rituals in order to bring them under control and make them reflect our “civilized” analytical mindset — force comforting order on apparent unsettling chaos of cosmos.
Yet, only knowledge of truth can really keep our impulses in check so we don’t roam the world like the very efficient, unburdened, but also ruthless naturalistic beast that we biologically are. Simply because only knowledge of truth reveals the inherent order of apparent cosmic chaos. It is, then, truly a great mystery, why do we, as the only species we know of which can free itself from ritual and transcend its raw impulses at will, insist on polishing the very impulses we try to transcend and “civilize?”
People always argue that it’s just a matter of a correct ritual, or an issue of a more elaborate or more properly executed motion, or a case of just another rule or change of law. But clearly, massaging the ritual in any way is utter waste of energy.
Somehow, we just almost always make life needlessly more complicated for everyone, whether they are involved or not. By participating in a ritual, we demand the world to comply with it. That is also why we all hate, or at least dislike, this ritual society — we all feel the pressure of that insistent demand. And while that pressure is in many cases existential, a polished turd is still a turd only the absurdity is more apparent.
However, don’t despair. Carriers of environmentally disruptive adaptations are usually killed off. Even if the disruption stems from ignoring or misuse of the adaptation in question. In other words, by keeping social rituals alive by participating in them while ignoring the knowledge of truth, you sentence every human to (premature) extinction. As it seems, it’s more than just humans, but that’s beside the point. On a more immediate level, you contribute that tiny nanometer needed for the ritualistic machine to devour its next victim.
Frankly, I wouldn’t want to live with being responsible for that.
