Description:
Designed for both academic and lay audiences, this book identifies the characteristics of ritual and, via multiple examples, details how ritual works on the human body and brain to produce its often profound effects. These include enhancing courage, effecting healing, and generating group cohesion by enacting cultural--or individual--beliefs and values. It also shows what happens when ritual fails.
Brief description:
Charles D. Laughlin is Emeritus Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His many books include Communing with the Gods: Consciousness, Culture and the Dreaming Brain (Daily Grail, 2011), which explores the anthropology of dreaming and recounts his experiences as a practitioner of Tibetan dream yoga.
Review Quotes:
"This book provides a fascinating introduction to ritual while offering innovative heuristics (e.g., ritual drivers, entrainment, symbolic penetration) to interpret how ritual effectively works...Highly Recommended." - Choice
"One could say that this is a "ritual omnibus"-a text that takes us on a journey into the different scales and dimensions of ritual, and ultimately encourages its readers to rethink their understandings both of ritual and of society." - Ruy Blanes, University of Gothenburg
"This book is the go-to resource for anyone seeking a holistic, modern understanding of the human phenomenon of ritual. Robbie Davis-Floyd and Charles Laughlin not only assemble information and insights from a panoply of anthropologically known societies, but also enrich their discussion of ritual's power from their own personal life experiences. The results are exciting and potentially lifechanging." - Megan Biesele, President, Kalahari People's Fund