How long ago did the modern world start to lose all of its rituals? Is it modernity itself that dictates that we have no more need for these ceremonies of purification and anointment? I wonder if it could be traced back to the creation of secularism, the separation of church and state. Belief in one life, when you’re dead you’re done. Or is it more recent with a general disappointment in religion and a desire to be free of the constricting, oppressive social pressure and power of the church? Say we are free from religious guilt, the motor making us behave, to follow the rules of society for fear of descending into chaos; but we still feel a need for penance, atonement, repentance, confession. For our own psychological relief, a re-boot, ability to start afresh. Jung spoke of the necessity of the archetypes of religion as a way for us to understand reality.
