Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/270286
JOBS for TEAMS | 14 www.jobsfor teams.com Manliness The Art of By Brett & Kate McKay, courtesy of www.artofmanliess.com L ast month, we explored the nature of ritual and posited that its current scarcity may be at the root of the rest- lessness, apathy, alienation, and gen- eral boredom many modern day men experience. It's our determination that without ritual, life often seems flat and devoid of rhythm and texture. Now, we are not suggesting that rituals be reinstituted on a society-wide basis; we're quite pessimistic about putting a cat back in the bag once it's been let out. Rather, what we hope and recommend is that individual men find a place for ritual in their lives through their own chosen communities and social groups. This can be done by seeking out institutions – be they lodges, clubs, sports teams, churches, or fraternities ¬– that provide a rich, satisfying ritual experience. You can also achieve it by making a few of your little, everyday routines more ritual-like. Every- thing from family traditions to your morn- ing cup of joe can become small rituals if you intentionally cultivate that character for it. How to do this is something we'll talk about down the line. You might even consider the pos- sibility of creating your own rituals that involve others – an initiation to your club, a rite of passage for your son, an oath of loyalty among friends. I'm still chewing over the viability of this idea, but I can't see any reason why you couldn't. Since our current culture prizes "authentic- ity," us moderns are very dubious about setting up or scheduling such a thing, believing "real" rituals are pulled from the ether and evolve naturally and organi- cally. But if one examines most rituals, even those that seem quite mysterious and ancient, you will find that they were in fact created by someone, or a group of someones, very intentionally, deliberately, and self-consciously. Or they developed from behaviors that once had a practical purpose, but gained ritual status after that utility was lost in the mists of time. Those rituals with origins we cannot definitively trace strike us as inherently more real, but that is because no one was around to record how they were created. Had someone been there, maybe they'd just find a guy, sitting in a hut, dreaming up a new ritual. At any rate, a subject for another day. Today we'll begin a discussion as to why you might consider seeking to par- ticipate in more rituals. What power does ritual hold? How can ritual transform and enrich a man's life? I had intended for this discussion to be encapsulated in a single post, but as always, underestimated the amount of material to cover. Plus, since this is such a deep, meaty topic, I thought it best to do three "shorter," easier to digest installments rather than one mega post. In this installment we will be discuss- ing two different ways of looking at the The Power of Ritual: The Creation of Sacred Time and Space in a Profane World JobsForTeams0314_manliness.indd 1 2/5/14 9:04 AM