Ethical rituals

Continuing with my study of Felix Adler's Founding Address, I am struck by the sparseness of what he proposes:

The exercises of our meetings are to be simple and devoid of all ceremony and formalism.

And later:

We propose to entirely exclude prayer and every form of ritual. 

No prayer.  No pledge to a flag.  No . . . but wait.  As I look at the Ethical Society of Austin, there are indeed rituals.  Simple they are indeed, but ritual they also are indeed--at least in the sense that they are repetitive, somewhat symbolic, carrying a minimal element of meaning for those present.

I've referred before to the limited rituals as I observed and participated in them.  Seeing now Adler's notion that there should be no "ceremony or formalism," I must consider them anew.

Adler had two purposes in avoiding ritual-prayer-ceremony.  First, he was seeking to avoid even the appearance of "interfering" with those to whom such things were an important part of their religious expression.  His effort was to eschew imitation or implied alternatives in order to avoid conflict with those already and firmly committed to a set of religious beliefs.  Second, he was also hoping to avoid offending those already more or less offended by religious rituals and, perhaps, supernaturalism.  His concern was, he said, reconciliation.

It is my dearest object to exalt the present movement above the strife of contending sects and parties, and at once to occupy that common ground where we may all meet, believers and unbelievers, for purposes themselves lofty and unquestioned by any.

Still, there it is.  I see ritual.  Where did it come from?  How widespread is it?  How necessary is it?  And what does it mean that the founder says "no ritual" but the practitioners have opened the door to these teensy tiny rituals?

Well, one thing I see is that Adler was an influence, but not the final word.  Ethical Culture is nearly 140 years old, and it has evolved in form and, I expect, in content as well.  It is not so much that in 140 years we added a chime, a lantern, and a burning bowl as it is that we added so little.  It's also, as I have noted before, a factor that the process is informal.  "Oops, I forgot the chime."  "Oops, the candle went out."  "Oops, my paper didn't fly up to burn."   These are rituals that have no power beyond the moment or our willingness to grant them personal meaning.  They provide structure for our function, focus for our higher purpose of considering the meaning and direction of our lives in promoting a more ethical world.  Somehow, I don't think Adler would mind.