Meta-heaven, meta-hell and why you should adopt a routine.

Ok guys, stand up. Now sit down because I’m about to tell you a story.

So this morning I took a shower and after I took it, boy did I feel different. It felt like going from one place to another. Then I go sit in front of the computer like I usually do, because God knows I have nothing better to do, and it occurs to me. It was one of those epiphany moments. Maybe I should clean my room. Now stay with me guys, if I took a shower and it felt like moving from one place to another, why shouldn’t I do the same with my room?

All this because I’ve been watching too much Jordan B Peterson on Youtube and have been influenced by him, it drove me to think of “the shower” and “cleaning your room” in a different manner. It drove me to think of rituals in a different manner because at the end of the day, all these things we do as part of a routine are very similar in structure to rituals. What comes to your mind when you think of a ritual? In my view I’ve always thought about them in a religious sense, and up to recently I considered them incoherent behavior. But, what really constitutes a ritual?

I looked up some definitions and the religious definition is surely there but a more pragmatic and universal definition I found on Merrian Webster is “an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner”. So basically, it’s a routine. Dr. Peterson often talks about routines and how you need a routine in your life. This got me to reflect upon mine as you would in these instances where your mind is being blown, and my life right now doesn’t really have too many routines. It would do many of us a net good to start incorporating them.

Paradise by Jan Bruegel

However, there is more to this ritual thing than just a routine. There is a “mental place” you’re aiming for. So I found useful to redefine a ritual as “an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner attempting to arrive at a desired mental place”. Dr. Peterson likes to think of Heaven and Hell as metaplaces or “mental places” if you’re being more pragmatic about it. You can almost sense it, when a person is there but is not completely present or the opposite, when a person is fully engaged.

Most people I would say are in between most of the time but we would love to be in “heaven” as much as possible in the same way we would love to NOT be in “hell” as much as possible. That is what the routine is about, trying to mimic that day where you felt useful and part of something greater than yourself.

Maybe I will continue these discussions if you like them to begin with. I find the topic very compelling. So give me an up vote or a comment or something to indicate that you liked what I did here and continue down the rabbit hole. I’m thinking of writing about responsibilities next. Let me know what other topics you like. Give me a follow for more and until next time.