“Thinking as activity”

I am cherry-picking this piece from chapter 2 which I read a week ago and only vaguely remember.

As I recall this chapter is about how ritual works and where ritual comesfrom.

It tells the story of a man returning to his ancestral home and wanting to enliven it. He fasts, he meditates, he sits and watches and the land “tells” him what to do.

I was binge-listening to We can do hard things – by Glennon Doyle and Abby Abby Wambach on a plane back from London. This was followed by binge listening to Glitch Bottle – just saying. Glennon talked about removing the distance between thinking and doing. I love this.

What is thinking anyway! A distraction IMHO.

What is ritual? What is a ceremony? I have asked these questions and people have given me answers. Today it feels like a ceremony commemorates something and a ritual enacts something.

What are markers? I imagine my life as map. There are sign posts and flags. There is a key, there are directions. There are hills and glades. I put down important points on the map to remind myself and to ground myself – these are the ceremonies.

When I go and walk a portion of the map in a new way, as a different person, to elevate it, to sanctify it to merge its vibrations with my ancestors, with the moss creatures, with the neutrinos – I do a ritual.

I have a grandmother’s altar in my closet. I go there to commune with the grandmothers. I vibe with them, they vibe with me. This is a ritual. Sometimes we write python code together.