Ritual performs a key function in cultures to overcome cognitive dissonance among beliefs (especially in the sacred) used in terror management. (For example, believing in a being that created & protects one, & will ensure eternal life.) Other functions include community affirming support for others in life events such as births, weddings, & funerals, & preserving peace through social justice (laws & court systems) & political systems (rule of law, elections, government structures). Support for various kinds of training have also been ritualized (e.g., fasting, renunciation of other kinds). Here ritual blends with spiritual practice & training.
In Western Buddhism, rituals from other cultures are frequently adopted without cultural context & therefore without complete understanding of their meaning. As a result, they are sometimes mistaken for the sacred, or consciously used as a substitute for it by those instructing others, in either intentionally or unintentionally misleading ways. Music is often involved in ritual; some have said that rock concerts are a kind of social ritual in the contemporary West.1 The annual Burning Man event comes to mind; sci-tech-mat provides its sacred elements, including promises of tech-enabled eternal life. Sporting events seem to play a similar role, & can be blended with other cultural elements, especially nationalism. In these ways, they form parts of terror management matrix of ideas.
cognitive dissonance • culture • sacred • sangha • terror management
- See Becker, Escape from Evil, p 14. ↩