Comment by steve_adams

It scratched an itch I've been having, though very unexpectedly. I left it feeling quite decided and energized insofar as the significance of ritual in my life goes. It changed the way I think and feel about community. Or the lack thereof in my culture.

It isn't a prescriptive book at all, and perhaps very bleak in a sense. He describes how we've lost much of the ritual and innate temporal rhythms which have historically given us a greater sense of time, place, purpose, closure, and so on. Similarly, he suggests we live in a world now which is arguably incompatible with these things, because it is designed to eliminate the conditions in which this rhythm can exist at all. We're trapped in a sense. The thing we crave is mutually exclusive with the environment we now live in.

Similar to the Burnout Society, he writes a lot about our hyper-individualistic culture which is obsessed with personal optimization and productivity. These are not ideals which are conducive to communal, cultural events and connections which transcend the individual. Yet one could argue that they're quite important to humans, and increasingly absent from our lives.

Another important concept is the fragmentation of time and how everything now blurs together.

There's much more to it. I'm only highlighting the parts which stood out clearly and are coming to mind now. Like burnout, it's short enough to read in a day, and well worth it. Han really speaks to me and his essays are absolute page-turners.

If you want something a bit more substantial and argumentative where conclusions are backed with clearly established points and data, it isn't the right kind of read. He also doesn't offer solutions. For me the pleasure is derived from a sense of understanding, appreciating an eloquent perspective on something I feel I'm experiencing, and Han's signature ability to crystalize the malaise of contemporary life. I know some people who would find the book irritatingly thin in too many places, or lacking any kind of rigour in explaining how he arrived at certain ideas or why he's making certain statements. If you can see past that, it's excellent.

I think the key is remembering that he isn't writing a scientific paper or treatise so much as a provocative essay to share his exploration and wonder about an amorphous, vague, yet visceral and pertinent matter.

elric 5 days ago

What did you think of The Disappearance of Rituals? It's been on my radar, but I've already got a big pile of books waiting to be read.

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steve_adams_86 2 days ago

It scratched an itch I've been having, though very unexpectedly. I left it feeling quite decided and energized insofar as the significance of ritual in my life goes. It changed the way I think and feel about community. Or the lack thereof in my culture.
It isn't a prescriptive book at all, and perhaps very bleak in a sense. He describes how we've lost much of the ritual and innate temporal rhythms which have historically given us a greater sense of time, place, purpose, closure, and so on. Similarly, he suggests we live in a world now which is arguably incompatible with these things, because it is designed to eliminate the conditions in which this rhythm can exist at all. We're trapped in a sense. The thing we crave is mutually exclusive with the environment we now live in.
Similar to the Burnout Society, he writes a lot about our hyper-individualistic culture which is obsessed with personal optimization and productivity. These are not ideals which are conducive to communal, cultural events and connections which transcend the individual. Yet one could argue that they're quite important to humans, and increasingly absent from our lives.
Another important concept is the fragmentation of time and how everything now blurs together.
There's much more to it. I'm only highlighting the parts which stood out clearly and are coming to mind now. Like burnout, it's short enough to read in a day, and well worth it. Han really speaks to me and his essays are absolute page-turners.
If you want something a bit more substantial and argumentative where conclusions are backed with clearly established points and data, it isn't the right kind of read. He also doesn't offer solutions. For me the pleasure is derived from a sense of understanding, appreciating an eloquent perspective on something I feel I'm experiencing, and Han's signature ability to crystalize the malaise of contemporary life. I know some people who would find the book irritatingly thin in too many places, or lacking any kind of rigour in explaining how he arrived at certain ideas or why he's making certain statements. If you can see past that, it's excellent.
I think the key is remembering that he isn't writing a scientific paper or treatise so much as a provocative essay to share his exploration and wonder about an amorphous, vague, yet visceral and pertinent matter.

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Comment by steve_adams_86