As you may have already been told, I recently changed my PhD thesis topic, after nearly quitting it. I changed it from "story" to something along the lines of "ritual".
I am reading up on ritual now and wondering what is it about rituals that appeal to me more than story? I think the answer lies in my personal make up.
Stories and storytelling is a very verbal act that involves a lot of talk, it is a way of talking, persuading, influencing, tickling, shocking... And I am actually someone of few words (not online, but yes, in person). Stories happen in person, off-the-cuff, spontaneously a lot of the times.
Now, rituals have a stronger element of "doing", it's often accompanied by "saying" but predominantly it is a performance and action. This, kinda fits who I am as a person better. A woman of few words but much action. It is about tradition and symbols, about embodying a message, changing insidiously, infecting transcendentally... It's almost magical, or to use a more academic word, numinous.
That... excites me. It's about things we find hard to fathom and describe... Why is it that seeing the flag rise as the national anthem is sounded when Joseph Schooling takes first place and three others take second, makes some of us feel goosebumps or the rising of the hairs on our backs? What is that magical feeling? Where did it come from?
Gosh... This feeling is also felt in the church, especially with the awe-inspiring architecture from ancient days and majestic music from the pipe organ and the pews all facing the front and stained glass windows... Plus the rituals of candle lighting, bowing before Christ, and the cross signal across the heart... They cause people to feel something.
That I feel is what made me more excited about the current topic that the previous... :)
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