Ritualism

February 13, 2026
By Aathreya Kadambi

Ever since I was a kid, I always wondered about religion. On one hand, every religion promotes being a “good human being”. On the other, it often stands in the way of social progress and is an easy target for misuse and control. At first, I took a primarily philosophical look at religion, trying to decipher what went deductively wrong.

When I took a class on Buddhism last year, I realized that it also is deeply ritualistic. These rituals aren’t overly philosophical. I was initially surprised, because to me, certain rituals seemed unjustifiable from the framework of the religion. But my misunderstanding stemmed from my way of thinking. Later when skimming through the book Atomic Habits, I noticed a subtle emphasis on ritualism as well.

Over time, I’ve realized that rituals:

• establish/reinforce identity,
• are a medium for collective memory/knowledge,
• synchronize behavior,
• are eventually done for fun,
• give life more structure,
• encode cultural values in repetition,
• signal commitment to values.

In communities, ritualism can also encode power structures and resist reform.

I was wrong in thinking that religion was fundamentally a belief system. That philosophical lens ignored that religion and culture do not correspond cleanly to belief and practice systems respectively.

Now that I’m moving from school life, structured by others, to a life guided by my own will, I see ritualism as a powerful way to stay grounded to my values.

Morning Routines, Self-care, and So-called Mindfulness

I’m not the first one to think this way. A trend in recent times is the idea of a “5-9” before a “9-5”. Influencers showcase how they structure their time outside of their jobs for productivity and fulfillment. In another trend, people showcase their skincare routines, or how to be “mindful” in every day life and actions rather than in so-called performative or unnecessarily painful ways.

To me, these trends form the basis of ritualism in the era of social media. On a deeper level it probably includes meme culture and brainrot, but that’s for another post.

Commercialization and Performance Pressure

Commercialization and social media have swayed the purpose of ritualism in our lives. While ritualism itself is incentivized by many of the things I mentioned above, it is also incentivized by the human desire to control power structures and profit.

Corporations can (and do) attain social power by expanding their ritualistic authority via influencers. Swiping through short-form content, we absorb rituals, slowly changes our values, collective knowledge, and identities.

This isn’t actually that different from the systems that existed in the past, except that it is no longer limited by geography. Influence can take place around the world, simultaneously connecting people and breaking apart existing geographic ties. Once an identity is established, people are pressured to perform towards that identity, even if it means engaging in unnecessary conflict.

In this way, nothing has changed aside from who is in control of the ritualism.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been thinking about what this means for me. I want to start designing better rituals to:

• handle bear necessities in a structured/guaranteed way to prevent neglect,
• give meaningful gifts,
• develop my own thread of meaning and value.

Towards that end, I want to perfect some recipes, cherish cultural drinks like tea and coffee, take more time to clean and do self-care, and develop rituals in my research life too.

We’ll see how it goes.