{"id":286421,"date":"2018-05-07T11:20:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T15:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=286421"},"modified":"2018-05-07T11:20:22","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T15:20:22","slug":"where-do-secular-people-turn-when-they-need-a-ritual-for-modern-life-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/05\/where-do-secular-people-turn-when-they-need-a-ritual-for-modern-life-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Where do secular people turn when they need a ritual for modern life? Here."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now for something different, from The Atlantic:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Religions have long been the dominant suppliers of rituals, gamely stepping in with an answer to every question from\u00a0How do I celebrate the birth of my baby boy?<\/em>to\u00a0How can I transfer my own sins onto a live chicken?<\/em>\u00a0But in an age of increasing religious disaffiliation, these rituals now feel hollow to millions of people. And even when they don\u2019t, there\u2019s a wide range of new experiences for which the traditional rituals offer no script: How do I cope with my rage after receiving a parking ticket? How can I keep a smart car from exacerbating my loneliness and narcissism? What can I do to mourn the death of my laptop?<\/p>\n

Although there is no single agreed-upon definition, a ritual is typically a deliberate action performed in a set sequence that improves our emotional state, by reframing an experience in a way that feels meaningful.<\/p>\n

At the\u00a0Ritual Design Lab<\/a>\u00a0in Silicon Valley, a small team of \u201cinteraction designers\u201d is working to generate new rituals for modern life, with an eye to user experience. Created by Kursat Ozenc and Margaret Hagan, the lab crafts rituals for both individuals and organizations, including big hitters like Microsoft. The team\u2019s website offers a Ritual Design Hotline with a tantalizing promise: \u201cYou tell us your problem. We will make you a ritual.\u201d Meanwhile, its Ritual Inventory invites you to add any interesting ritual you\u2019ve made or seen to its growing database. And its app, IdeaPop, helps you brainstorm and create your own rituals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

Ozenc is preparing to roll out a project called\u00a0Pop-Up Prayer<\/a>, which aims to give urban young professionals a way to pray when they\u2019re on the go.\u00a0Here\u2019s how it works:<\/a>\u00a0An organization buys a prayer kit, puts it in a room where it\u2019s okay for a visitor to pray, and posts an online listing. You find the building using your smartphone (as with other location-based services), go to the room, take what you need from the kit, and use it to pray. Then you put everything back where you found it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first kit to be debuted will be geared toward young Muslims\u2014or \u201cMipsters,\u201d as Ozenc calls them\u2014and will contain a prayer rug, a compass, water, and a prayer book. Subsequent models will be geared toward Jews and Christians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more<\/strong><\/a> about it.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now for something different, from The Atlantic:\u00a0 Religions have long been the dominant suppliers of rituals, gamely stepping in with an answer to every question from\u00a0How do I celebrate the birth of my baby boy?to\u00a0How can I transfer my own sins onto a live chicken?\u00a0But in an age of increasing religious disaffiliation, these rituals now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":47274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[11192],"class_list":["post-286421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prayer","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nWhere do secular people turn when they need a ritual for modern life? 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