Lichtenbergian Precepts: Ritual, part 4

Our next installment in examining the Lichtenbergian Precept of RITUAL is the phase known as TAKING THE PATH.

As I’ve said before, the stages of RITUAL that I’m defining are based on the sections of a blank book I created for meditations in the labyrinth in my back yard — which are of course based on the structure of RITUAL anyway. For me, TAKING THE PATH is literal: if I want to learn from the labyrinth, I have to get up from my comfortable seat by the fire pit and TAKE THE PATH.

As we say in the Lichtenbergian Society:

Take the Pathway
to explore
uncover
confront.

Return to the Fire
to confirm
affirm
retreat.

Order. Community. Transformation.

So once you’ve DRAWN THE CIRCLE, it’s time to take that first step. Make that ABORTIVE ATTEMPT. Circle back and give your project another SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION. Explore, uncover, confront your work. Pay attention to the twists and turns of your path. Listen to your journey.

Keep moving. Eventually you’ll arrive… some place. It would be nice if our creative process was like an actual labyrinth, just one path that leads inexorably to the center, to the goal — but it’s not. Taking that first step, though, is the important thing. You may not have a clear path before you, but if you don’t take that first step, you won’t get anywhere.

As I say on the postcard I made this morning — yes, I am actually working on the 50 POSTCARDS PROJECT — “If you keep following where the work leads, you will create a path to follow next time.”

Next: NUMEN/CONNECTION