It seems i have underestimatet both the creep factor and the inferential distance.
Let me explain:
Blood is a powerful Symbol. Its not without reason that it has been an important ingredient of many rituals throughout history.
What ist even more important: There is a special meaning that is connected to spilling some drops of ones own blood: The willingness to take the hard way, to endure pain and sacrifice; determination.
How does this relate to rationality? Rationality may require to chose the hard way, questioning dear- held beliefs, acting against deeply anchored social programming, breaking the rules of society.
But i dont want to overstate my case. Maybe there are less controversial means to accomplish the same ends? No need to use the creepy stuff if functional equivalents are at hand.
Beyond that, there seams to be a more general issue: ”jolly” rituals vs “solemn” rituals
All of my suggestions belong to the “solemn” category. Solemn rituals are probably much harder to implement. They require a stronger group coherence and more commitment. On the other hand, solemn rituals are far more powerful (and therefore, dangerous).
I think it is an option worth exploring.
I doubt ‘solemn’ is the word to use here. The Solstice celebration gets pretty solemn as it progresses, and yet it’s clearly not the kind of ceremony you’re thinking of.
The kind of ritual you seem to be suggesting… the only people (in fact and fiction alike) I can think of who’ve had rituals like that are brotherhoods of warriors/insurgents.
Which might be what you’re aiming for, but I don’t think our peaceful circle of philosophers should take up arms against the Enemies of Sanity just yet.
I agree that solemn rituals are harder but more powerful. I don’t think doing a pin-prick-blood ritual is an inherently bad idea, but it’s the sort thing that’s too creepy to be used in any kind of ceremony that we wanted the public to know about.
Beyond the creep factor, it also (slightly) crosses a line that I don’t want to cross—causing bodily harm. There may be genuinely good reasons to cross that line, but once you’ve crossed the line then a lot of issues become a lot murkier. Since we’re dealing with complex and potentially dangerous forces, I’d rather set up some strict rules that are well in advance of anything genuinely bad that might happen.
Its not a joke.
It seems i have underestimatet both the creep factor and the inferential distance.
Let me explain:
Blood is a powerful Symbol. Its not without reason that it has been an important ingredient of many rituals throughout history. What ist even more important: There is a special meaning that is connected to spilling some drops of ones own blood: The willingness to take the hard way, to endure pain and sacrifice; determination. How does this relate to rationality? Rationality may require to chose the hard way, questioning dear- held beliefs, acting against deeply anchored social programming, breaking the rules of society.
But i dont want to overstate my case. Maybe there are less controversial means to accomplish the same ends? No need to use the creepy stuff if functional equivalents are at hand.
Beyond that, there seams to be a more general issue:
”jolly” rituals vs “solemn” rituals
All of my suggestions belong to the “solemn” category.
Solemn rituals are probably much harder to implement. They require a stronger group coherence and more commitment. On the other hand, solemn rituals are far more powerful (and therefore, dangerous). I think it is an option worth exploring.
I doubt ‘solemn’ is the word to use here. The Solstice celebration gets pretty solemn as it progresses, and yet it’s clearly not the kind of ceremony you’re thinking of.
The kind of ritual you seem to be suggesting… the only people (in fact and fiction alike) I can think of who’ve had rituals like that are brotherhoods of warriors/insurgents.
Which might be what you’re aiming for, but I don’t think our peaceful circle of philosophers should take up arms against the Enemies of Sanity just yet.
I agree that solemn rituals are harder but more powerful. I don’t think doing a pin-prick-blood ritual is an inherently bad idea, but it’s the sort thing that’s too creepy to be used in any kind of ceremony that we wanted the public to know about.
Beyond the creep factor, it also (slightly) crosses a line that I don’t want to cross—causing bodily harm. There may be genuinely good reasons to cross that line, but once you’ve crossed the line then a lot of issues become a lot murkier. Since we’re dealing with complex and potentially dangerous forces, I’d rather set up some strict rules that are well in advance of anything genuinely bad that might happen.