[This article was originally published in The Vernal Express in 2009.]
By Gary Lee Parker
Express Journalist
According to Webster, ritual is “a set form or system of rites, religious or otherwise.” Rituals can be as formal as religious sacraments, or as informal as the way a person butters their toast. They may be performed at regular intervals, or they may occur in seemingly random patterns. They may be communal, or they may be individual. They may be public, or they may be private. Rituals are as varied and colorful as the mind can imagine.
For humans, rituals can be a powerful and beneficial motivator in life, or they can be a destructive force driven by fear. They can provide an inner calm, or they can encapsulate us in doubt. they can help us live responsibly, or drive us to hurt those we love. But one thing is certain: We all seek out ritual and we all engage in it. But why?
The answers are not easy.
Pastor Kirk Thomas, pastor of Vernal's Kingbury Community United Church of Christ, says “It's sort of in our DNA.” He says that people seek out ritual because familiar acts and habits are comforting. He tends too look at all ritual as being spiritual in nature. “A lot of people who are not churchy, never-the-less have ritual in their spiritual life.”
“Some people,” he says, “use exercise as a spiritual practice. Some people find being quiet in nature to be a spiritual practice,” though they may not recognize such acts as spiritual.
Although he doesn't explain it in terms of spirituality, Vernal psychologist Dan Goodkind, Ph.D., seems to agree. “All religions have rituals,” he says, “and there is significance and meaning in those rituals.”
In eastern traditions such things as yoga and meditation are stressed. Christians generally place emphasis on prayer, bible study, and other forms of worship. The LDS church stresses family gatherings, prayer and such rites as baptism and priesthood. Chanting and repetitious rites play an important role in many religions across multiple cultures. Catholicism's rosary and confession are additional examples of ritual.
Dr. Goodkind also defines ritual broadly, citing dinner as a family, regular discussion, exercise, and even mundane daily tasks as common examples. “We have our own personal rituals in terms of habits,” he says. “There's a certain comfort in what's known, if course.”
He suggests that we seek out those comforting familiarities to help us find and keep our mental and emotional footing in an often confusing and constantly changing world. “They give us a sense of security,” he says.
Science seems to back up his assertion. In December of 2002, the American Psychological Association published an article on a 50 year research review that indicates that ritual and routine may play an important role in a person's mental health and relationships well-being. “The review finds that family routines and rituals are powerful organizers of family life that offer stability during times of stress and transition,” says the article.
The article states that rituals “are associated with marital satisfaction, adolescents' sense[s] of personal identity, children's health, academic achievement and stronger family relationships,” citing family dinner time as having a strong effect. Other important rituals noted include birthdays, holidays, chores, bedtime, funerals, and conversation.
The studies cite better sleep patterns, faster healing from common illness, less behavioral problems, and improved general health as benefits of ritual and routine.
However, as a psychologist, Dr. Goodkind deals with both the good and the bad side of ritual. He believes that ritual, while usually healthy and good, can be taken to extremes. “If somebodies life is governed by rituals, they can be very confining,” he says, adding that serious problems can occur when rituals are “born out of irrational thoughts, beliefs, or fears.”
He refers to certain psychological disorders, such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Hypochondria, where compulsive rituals and behaviors are driven by irrational fears, as extreme examples. These disorders usually require professional psychological services in order for recovery to occur.
He also says that, though the behaviors of addiction are fundamentally different from ritual, “[otherwise healthy] ritual can become associated with addiction.” In such a case, the addicted person may come to associate Friday evenings with friends, for example, with an addictive substance like alcohol. When that happens, he says it is important for the addict to separate themselves not only from the alcohol, but from the ritual as well, in order to assist them in beating the addiction.
According to Dr. Goodkind, it is important for the addict to find different rituals and habits not associated with their addictions to replace the unhealthy ones.
Both Dr. Goodkind and Pastor Thomas, as well as the scientific studies, seem to agree that ritual can be a powerful influence for good in our lives, when practiced appropriately. Dr. Goodkind frequently assists patients in developing positive and healthy habits and rituals in their lives, while helping them break their unhealthy patterns and habits and overcome their deepest irrational fears.
Pastor Thomas, in conjunction with the Vicar for Vernal's St. Paul's Episcopal Church, has begun holding non-denominational evening Taize' gatherings that are open to the public. Taize' is a form of meditative prayer that incorporates repetitive singing of simple songs interwoven with periods of silence and brief readings. He hopes to provide opportunities for positive ritual to typically non-religious people. “When people who are not churchy encounter traditional worship services, the experience can be jarring,” he says. They are seeking to provide a sort of middle ground for non-churchgoers to engage in communal ritual.
Most local church services are open to the public, and their leaders generally encourage participation. Additionally, such community facilities as the public parks and Vernal's recreation center can be used to develop positive communal and individual rituals and habits like exercise, meditation, and dance. The Uintah Basin is surrounded also by vast wilderness areas, state and national parks, and swaths of BLM land, all of which provide residents with the opportunity for positive and healthy rituals like hiking, biking, swimming, photography, camping, hunting and boating. Even something as simple as taking a few minutes each day to relax in nature can bring important health benefits, according to experts.
Regardless of the reasons why, it seems there is little doubt that ritual can have powerful positive effects on the human mind and body. The bottom line, according to Dr. Goodkind, is that, “rituals are comforting.” And for most people, that seems to be reason enough.