Rituals and celebrations

Creativity and the arts Spirituality and transcendence

Altered states Drugs and psychedelics Mindfulness and meditation Prayer and contemplation Rituals and celebrations Sacred places Spirituality and religion Symbols and myth The irrational and uncanny Transcendent experience Visions and mysticism Wonder and the sublime

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Black and white photo of a person sitting at a table in front of open windows with a mountain village view.

Stories and literature

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On the pleasures of hand-writing letters you’ll never send

Hand-writing letters you’ll never send takes the heat off feelings and lets you look back on drafts of a previous self

by Anandi Mishra

A group of people in white attire and backpacks walk along a wooden path through green fields under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Rituals and celebrations

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More radical and practical than Stoicism – discover Shugendō

As they train for their own deaths, Japan’s mountain priests develop a form of acceptance that goes beyond the Stoics

by Tim Bunting

Colourful photo with three people in sunglasses. Blurred effect, room number 101 visible, two seated in the background.

Drugs and psychedelics

guide

How to have a safe psychedelic trip

A psychedelic experience can be deeply rewarding, but also carries real risks. Here’s how to avoid a bad trip

by Christian Jarrett

Photo of a woman submerged to the neck in a natural hot spring, with mountains and mist in the background, creating a serene atmospheric scene.

Photography

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One photo per day for more than a year, exploring how rituals affect memory

Directed by Scott Thrift

Painting of a traditional Chinese funeral, people in white robes mourning around a deceased figure on a table.

Rituals and celebrations

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Rituals create community by translating our love into action

For the Confucian Xunzi, love and gratitude are not just feelings in response to events but possibilities for social action

by Curie Virág

Photo of hands handling betting tokens, coins and paper slips on a brick surface with grass in background.

Sports and games

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For players of fafi, dream interpretation is a vital skill

The fafi lottery game in South Africa requires the careful interpretation of dreams and the waking world around you

by Brittany Birberick

Photo of a man in a blue suit sitting on steps, reading a book, holding a coffee cup with a brown bag beside him.

Rituals and celebrations

guide

How to set yourself free with ritual

For a life of harmonious ease, find the rhythm in the everyday: make your world your temple and submit to its sacred ritual

by Alan Jay Levinovitz

Black-and-white photo of two judokas; one is throwing the other who is airborne with legs up, set against a wooden background.

Sports and games

film

Softness controls hardness – a fighter’s gentle approach to life

Directed by Josef Reeve

Photo of a man in a confessional booth with a purple curtain in a dimly lit stone-walled church setting.

Ethics

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Why won’t the sin wash away? When thinking ethically goes awry

Is scrupulously thinking about morality in everyday life as pathological as the meticulous, repetitive behaviours of OCD?

by Jesse Summers

Ancient Greek marble relief showing three figures in a carved scene.

Rituals and celebrations

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For Plato, rationalists and mystics can walk the same path

Why did such a keen proponent of reason turn to the Eleusinian Mysteries to explain his ideas about knowledge?

by Sam Woodward

Sepia-toned photo of a woman outdoors with eyes closed and hands clasped, wearing a dark shawl against a blurred landscape.

Grief

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How to express your grief

The initial shock might be over. But you need time and space to ‘ride the wave’ of grief if you are to find a sense of peace

by Sue Morris

A person with a head covering climbs a rope ladder surrounded by bees in a mountainous area with smoke in the background.

Values and beliefs

film

A sacred dream sends one man on the perilous trail of toxic honey in Nepal

Directed by Ben Knight