Like many of my generation, I adored the writings of Kurt Vonnegut. My personal favorite was Cat’s Cradle, but a close runner-up would be Slapstick. The former taught me all I ever needed to know of religion; the latter, of politics.
On my first reading of Slapstick, I came across a quote that took root in my memory. Vonnegut wrote:
“I believed then what I believe even now: That life can be painless, provided that there is sufficient peacefulness for a dozen or so rituals to be repeated simply endlessly.”
I’m not sure why that resonated with me as a young person. My life swirled with chaos at the time; but with passing years and tiring passions, I came to appreciate the wisdom in Vonnegut’s words.
Rituals do provide solace, a sense of order and meaning. From birth to old age, we all yearn for structure, pattern, ritual. They comfort us, define us, buttress us.
My patterns have been disrupted since I was thrown into retirement. The rhythm of daily life is all a-jangle, and it’s going to take me a little while to get the system back into equilibrium. In the meantime, I’m leaning on ritual to help calm the waters. New patterns, new meanings, a new dance will emerge. Life will take on a new form I can’t yet envision.
I hope that new setting includes sufficient peacefulness.