Rituals and celebrations
![Ancient Chinese painting of a funeral scene with mourners in white robes around a deceased person on a raised platform.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/bf1d14ff-96b2-4903-9298-ec38dd7f7f60/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Rituals and celebrations
idea
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
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/f693812c-a4e9-4269-9b1d-e24ccd954393/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Ethics
idea
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
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/6432fdda-2bfa-4bd0-b06b-2faec76e31c8/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
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
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/7827ea95-ad28-4a6b-b363-cac6ca94a92a/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Photography
film
One photo per day for more than a year, exploring how rituals affect memory
Directed by Scott Thrift
![A group of people in white attire and backpacks walk along a wooden path through green fields under a blue sky with scattered clouds.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/2d62b3fc-6961-43c7-a414-36d0d0887465/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Rituals and celebrations
idea
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
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/3e6403d0-86b2-4269-b916-f3ccd88924d2/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Rituals and celebrations
idea
Mourning is a leap to freedom, inviting new dreams of living
Mourning is a leap in the dark, but not into darkness. It’s a leap to freedom that invites us to dream of living once more
by Alexander Hirsch
![Man in blue suit sitting on steps, holding a coffee cup and reading a book, with a brown leather bag beside him, in sunlight next to a white wall.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/3e345f10-9659-43d0-8770-f0509a1b079e/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
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
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/7a0ad5de-b7da-4820-aafd-1fd4c4f74a28/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sports and games
film
Softness controls hardness – a fighter’s gentle approach to life
Directed by Josef Reeve
![A close-up of hands holding papers with handwritten notes, coin purses, and a pen, set on a wooden surface with grass in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/b8c1f734-b7ea-44a2-93f8-fbc0dfa94857/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sports and games
idea
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
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/891d5ebc-2cb1-4ad6-9d97-ed9f5a59016f/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Drugs and psychedelics
idea
Cigarette! Exquisite fiend, ephemeral friend, how I miss you
Melancholic and alluring, addictive and seductive, cigarettes were the excuse for a sweet pause between lovers and friends
by Caroline Eden
![Ancient Chinese painting of two women, one holding a baby, standing indoors by ornate window screens and wooden furniture.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/a9f8b17c-69bc-4ed9-83e5-b310729be518/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Parenting and families
guide
How Chinese philosophy can help you parent
Confucianism and Daoism suggest ways to guide your children toward meaning and fulfilment rather than wealth and prestige
by Erin Cline
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/8714826b-21bc-4c9c-8be9-f794842e5370/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Values and beliefs
film
A sacred dream sends one man on the perilous trail of toxic honey in Nepal
Directed by Ben Knight