Pointless but significant
January 6th
I found this phrase in a book about the play element and its significance in our life (“Homo Ludens” by Johan Huizinga). It referred in that book to religious liturgy, and I found that an apt description. I mean, the liturgy (Christian catholic as I know in-depth only this one) is pointless by itself. There are magic phrases and utterances from the priest, set by traditional responses from the congregation. Music and songs, particular movements and motions from the priest and the faithful. And yet it’s all needed and very significant to those who believe in that religion. That let them feel a connection to the mystery that underlines every religious movement and to the past generations who believed the same.
But that “pointless but significant” phrase can refer to all our mundane daily rituals. We have our deep-set rituals for all we do from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep (especially in the nighttime — favorite side of the bed, special pillow or blanket or stuffed toy, alarm set in a particular way, the particular way we lay and tuck in under the covers). We do things in a way we’ve done them before without having to think about them. We just do. Even though a lot of what we do is pointless by itself, like having a special coffee mug or driving to work particularly that way, or setting the table just so. We don’t realize that all those things are significant in the way we do them until, for whatever reason, we cannot do them like before.
Those small rituals dot our daily lives. I am lost if I miss any of mine. There is a nagging nervousness feeling that something is not wholly completed, that something is missing from my life. By themselves, those rituals are pointless, but they are needed and significant in the fabric of my life.
