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The Role of Ritual in Any Discipline, From Psychedelics to Mindfulness
Frameworks move us into new states of mind faster
A shaman takes a group of acolytes into the forest. They have fasted for two days. When they reach a hidden clearing, they watch as he speaks to unseen beings, asking permission to bring his group to a new place.
A monk sits on her cushion, silently. In her mind she takes a slow breath, exhales, and in the moment between breaths, takes refuge in the Buddha, then with the next breath, the dharma, followed by the sangha. The Example, the Teaching, the Community.
A chef spends his morning prepping everything he will need for the evening’s rush. Everything in its place, everything clean and ready. He goes outside and quietly smokes a cigarette, then goes to work.
Rituals. They are as old as mankind, probably older. Surgical teams use them to anticipate problems and avoid fatal errors. Books are written about the value of checklists like those used in commercial aircraft before takeoff. Physical trainers give students routines to get them into healthy workout habits. The examples are endless because these processes are essential to setting up any task or voyage. Even your morning coffee is a ritual for starting your day.
Set and setting
The recent loosening of research into the use of psychedelics in therapeutic applications unleashed a new awareness of ritual as a control mechanism that could be tested and replicated by others. Known as ‘set and setting’, the concept had been studied in the sixties before politics illegalized these powerful compounds.
Set is your state of mind when ingesting a drug with power. Setting is the place you do this, the persons you are with, the environment. We are beginning to understand how critical these rituals are to the quality and value of the experience, perhaps obvious to any ancient culture, but forgotten in our world of instant gratification.
Practice makes perfect
Meditation is notoriously hard when you first sit down to try and watch your mind at work. Everything conspires to distract you. Physical discomfort, itches, tasks you suddenly need to do before you…
