From Ritualism to Retreatism

Most of us live life like this cat.

The life of a common man is ordinary and meaningless. He stares at the moon in awe, but does not aspire to reach it. He admires his boss’s Armani suit, but does not strive to wear it. He notices the high achievers being applauded in school but does not desire it. Most people, therefore, tend to be ritualists- people who live, what I call, a drab existence. They accept their position in society, considering it to be pre-destined and unchangeable and live their lives as a monotonous, continuous routine.

Most of us do things just because we have to, rather than want to. Most of the school day is spent sulking around, waiting for the clock to strike one-thirty, and your vans to drift you home. And why do you go to school? Because your parents said so, because everyone else goes to school, because you have to. This ritualist lifestyle continues on to plain, empty-shell marriages, tasteless work and grouchy old age.

Some part of every one’s life is spent in a ritualist way. Obviously, not everyone has the same dynamic life as Rebecca Black now, right? However, there are points in life which mark a transformation or a temporary transition. This occurs when ritualists have had enough of ritualism but instead of becoming revolutionaries, they become retreatists. Retreatists are people who ostracize themselves from society, disenchanted by the way it has condemned them to a failure.

It starts when we start differentiating between ‘us’ and ‘they’. It occurs when everyone around us just seem to have a better, more dynamic life than our own. For me, it was the feeling that everyone around me had more vibrant social lives, the feeling that having a girlfriend was everything, the feeling that school truancy was the only way to ‘fit in’. It occurs at a point when the rosy, serene picture of everyone being equal in society is smashed and thrashed by the reality of rampant social inequalities- when you realize that your buddy toured all of Europe but you could not, when you realize that your friend bought the latest iPhone but you could not. Thus, you start by blaming God, your parents, and then your friends, society and finally, when the blame game bears no fruit, yourself.

Our own brand of alcohol

Retreatists normally turn to illegal drugs, alcohol or smoking in the hope of artificially reforming their lives. Some of them do gain better lives, and are readily accepted in society’s most prestigious groups, the gypsies, the drunkards and the stray dogs. Most others, however, kill themselves by jumping out of the window, during their drug-frenzy hallucinations.

We kids, on the other hand, turn to our own alcohol and drugs- we grab a bowl of chocolate ice-cream, push a few Fox candies into our pockets, grab a huge cup of Pepsi and set off for our rooms, never to return again, at least not until dinner is served an hour later.

We all become retreatists at some point
in life.

Ritualism and Retreatism aren’t essentially bad things. In some cases, Retreatism allows us to mature and accept society’s horrors with patience and resolve. I am just highlighting the fact that many people lead ritualist lives without realizing it, and often, denying it. And, ritualism will, at some point become retreatism. This is one of the harsh realities of life, regardless of how popular or ‘hip’ you are.

This cycle reaches its end when we realize that we have no choice but to conform to the way society is and become the slaves it wants us to be. Hence, we become ritualists once again, leading a life without animation and colour. And after a few years… ritualism becomes a pain, again.