How to Do Ritual in Virtual Space?

Fun and interesting fact: recent research shows that 46% of Gen Z (so MS and SS age range) have tried a religious or spiritual practice that is new to them since the COVID outbreak. 

Let that sink in.

Rather than a hindrance, COVID has offered a unique opportunity, and an urgency, to undertake a serious exploration of spiritual values. The ritual space provided by regular worship services is the traditional way churches have gone about pursuing this aim.

However, the very need Gen Z is having for spiritual and religious meaning has been caused by the very thing that makes traditional worship services impossible, namely the pandemic. The pandemic prevents the key element of ritual--being present together in a physical space for a fixed length of time that is set aside and apart from 'normal' activities.

Ritual gatherings can't be blithely dismissed. The practice of ritualized worship has survived for thousands of years because it is inherently well-designed to fulfil the very needs being expressed by Gen Z. Ritual worship has lasted for as long as it has because it's trusted and compelling and has adapted over time, to things as obvious as electricity, audio/video technologies, etc.

So just rub some new technology on it and it will be fine, right?

To be blunt: the technological tool at our disposable--Zoom--is not designed for ritual gathering, and it's hard to see it ever becoming adaptable to ritual gathering, and therefore to meeting the needs ritual gatherings address. Gatherings of human bodies do not occupy a grid-frame in constant surveillance, facing perpetually front-on like martinets. In ritual gatherings, we move our gaze around, we look to the peripheries or the ceiling. We are not always 'on'. We need not 'perform' attentiveness as we are compelled to on Zoom. In ritual gatherings, we can mentally check in and out, directing our attention into ourselves and out into the shared sphere as we feel moved to. The best we can do in Zoom is turn our camera off--which sends a message that may be interpreted as anything from boredom to active resistance. 

So we can't just map onto Zoom what we've loved about gathering in ritual space. What can we do to make the most of the substandard tool we currently have?

Some practical research is being done in this area to make the best use of the wrong tool. Emerging principles include:

1. Preparing the physical space, and marking the time as out-of-the-ordinary

2. Finding ways to 'lean into' the reality of where we each are

3. Finding ways to 'lean into' the fact that this is new and only partially adequate

4. Acknowledging that people feel safe at home in ways they would not in public spaces among strangers--thus a higher willingness to risk engaging with big questions with new people

5. Finding ways in the technology to help people connect--assign break out rooms, briefly check-ins from everyone.

Any thoughts? 

Feel free to comment or PM me.