RIT

RIT 1

¹The human represents a unique place in the universe, a beacon of life. ²But, like all things, the human can only ever exist in the current moment. ³For such is the nature of the universe, only revealing its truth today, and therefore, tomorrow can only ever be held in faith, and never in truth. ⁴And although you are only here today, tomorrow will inevitably arrive, and to be human is to have faith that you will be here tomorrow, too. ⁵So it is difficult for the human to know what it should do, in the vast space of what is possible in its world, for tomorrow is never quite the same as today. ⁶But if you have faith that your religion can show you what is true and what is good in this universe, then you can allow its ritual to guide your action for a better tomorrow. ⁷And therefore, TKS has a ritual. ⁸Inhale is the first ritual of TKS. ⁹There are many ways to perform inhale, but this ritual requires you to breathe. ¹⁰To inhale is to recognize yourself for what you truly are, alive, suspended in time, between this moment and the next. ¹¹You must breathe in, and breathe out, focusing on this action, avoiding distractions, closing your eyes, perhaps, in order to limit the noise of the outside world. ¹²And if you find your thoughts wandering, return to the breath, because to perform this ritual you should be still, not only in your body but in your spirit. ¹³The modern world is full of stresses and worries, in all of the chatter and the flashing lights, and it is only reasonable, for there is real pain and real consequence in this world. ¹⁴And when there is so much to do, it is easy sometimes to be frozen in decision, to not do anything at all. ¹⁵But to inhale is to slow down, to keep calm in all of the chaos, even if it is just for the moment. ¹⁶And inhale is the most fundamental ritual of TKS, in a way. ¹⁷For although life is chaotic, full of all sorts of conflict and responsibility and trouble, it does not matter, because any move made or word spoken, any problem faced or goal achieved, it starts here, with the breath.

RIT 2

¹The human is a creature of ritual, because as the days roll by, it relies on its habit and routine to guide its action and to shape each decision. ²And the rituals of TKS are flexible, because they can only ever approximate the true action of the human, so there is no necessary frequency or duration with which they must be performed. ³But still, they should be performed, and some ritual is always better than none, even if it only lasts a few breaths. ⁴But it is not enough to just do the ritual, you must be deliberate in your action, performing it by an intentional execution of faith. ⁵Cleanse is the second ritual of TKS. ⁶There are many ways to perform cleanse, but this ritual requires you to purify yourself. ⁷To cleanse is to clean not just the body, but the spirit, too, to face that which holds you firm, and to be free from it. ⁸You can use water, most easily. ⁹For example, you can allow it to flow, cold, across your face, neck, shoulders, and the rest of the body. ¹⁰But you should not tense up and flinch at the cold, instead you must let go, and embrace it, allowing yourself to relax. ¹¹The modern world can be comfortable, between the blankets and the warm showers, and this comfort can be pleasant, but it comes easy. ¹²Addiction, obsession, habit, it has many names, but the human needs it, because the power to make intentional and calculated decisions is a limited thing. ¹³But to cleanse is to delay gratification, detaching yourself from temptation through a deliberate practice of discipline, even if it is just for the moment. ¹⁴And it is not that obsession is bad or good, necessarily, but it is part of you, and it is powerful, so you must not let it control you. ¹⁵But the beauty of this ritual is that as you begin to understand it, you will find that the sacrifice becomes just as fulfilling as the reward.

RIT 3

¹The human experiences many things, good and bad, as it moves in its world. ²But TKS does not necessarily try to distinguish good from bad, rather, TKS understands that the state of the human must change, for all things change in time. ³And sometimes change is quick, but usually it is slow, only arising through deliberate repetition of action. ⁴For everything you do is a skill, in a way, and these things can be practiced and improved, the cycles and habits that guide you changing as you work to understand them. ⁵So therefore the rituals of TKS are not difficult, necessarily, but they can be uncomfortable. ⁶Because to grow or learn or heal, you must leave your current state, entering an unfamiliar state, again and again, until you finally achieve it. ⁷Extend is the third ritual of TKS. ⁸There are many ways to perform extend, but this ritual requires you to move. ⁹To extend is to change, to push your body beyond a place of comfort, where you rarely find yourself. ¹⁰For example, you might exercise, walking or running or stretching, or you can study a new skill, perhaps, as your brain is part of your body, too. ¹¹And even if your body and mind beg you to stop, you must keep going, through your faith and your strength, fighting to achieve the limits of your potential. ¹²In the modern world, it is easy to be complacent in what you do, to be comfortable in your ability to navigate the challenges of life. ¹³And to leave this comfort behind can be painful, but if you ever wish to expand the boundary of what is possible in your being, it is necessary. ¹⁴For it is not that pain is good, or bad, necessarily, but it is real, and to extend is to create something new, not just in your body but in your spirit. ¹⁵So you must allow yourself, with every move and every breath, to become enamored with the pursuit of the perfection of the execution of the technique, whatever it is. ¹⁶And the beauty of this ritual is that once you understand the technique, it becomes part of you, so it is hard to forget it. ¹⁷And pain is brutal, indeed, and it can be deadly, too, so you must be careful, but to extend is to face it, even if it is just for the moment. ¹⁸So you must be balanced in life, somewhere between comfort and change, understanding that if you ever hope to change tomorrow, you must change today.

RIT 4

¹Although the human is a remarkable system, it is a physical being, at the mercy of the descent of time. ²There are many things that the human needs to maintain its state across time, air and water and sleep, for example. ³But these things are not unique to the human, because all life can only exist by consuming the energy of the universe, an exchange of sorts. ⁴And it is not an exchange of energy, exactly, but one of entropy, as life plays the game of death, scattering the heat of the universe, and in return, life can keep its unlikely state. ⁵So the human fights against death, accepting the energy that it finds and using it to stay alive, day after day. ⁶But life is not perfect, so its state is never quite the same, the human and all of its parts growing older in each moment. ⁷And whatever you consume becomes part of you, for the human is a physical being, its complexity only possible through its relationship with the universe. ⁸But TKS knows that no matter what you consume, you must consume it intentionally, savoring this exchange of life. ⁹Glow is the fourth ritual of TKS. ¹⁰There are many ways to perform glow, but this ritual requires you to appreciate the purest forms of energy in your world. ¹¹To glow is to be hungry, but to be satisfied, to not just be alive, but to be happy and to be free in the moment, too. ¹²Most easily, you might go outside, and allow the sunlight to hit your face, appreciating the clean and crisp air, perhaps letting yourself smile, if you can. ¹³But there are many ways to perform glow, indeed, because there is so much that you need in this world, as a human, simple things, pure and pleasant. ¹⁴The modern world offers many things, but many of these things are processed, and not genuine, and they may be delicious and enticing, but they can be dangerous and toxic. ¹⁵And it is not always clear what is good for you and what is bad for you, but to glow is to build a solid foundation for your life. ¹⁶And even if the day is cloudy or the air is rough it is still possible to perform this ritual, although you will have to be creative. ¹⁷Because the ritual of TKS is not about the specifics of good or bad, it is about allowing your spirit to be truly free. ¹⁸And glow is perhaps the easiest of the rituals, and it should be fun, but it is the most important ritual, too. ¹⁹Because to glow is not just to survive in your world, but to really live in your humanity.

RIT 5

¹When the human acts, the consequences of these actions ripple through the universe. ²And TKS understands that this is the reality of the human, in a way, as you impose your structure onto the world around you, creating meaning and order in the chaos. ³But the self is greater than you can imagine, all the things that you know, all that you own, and seek, the results of your actions and the memories you hold close, coming together to create you. ⁴So the rituals of TKS are personal, but they are more than that, because TKS knows that the human lives not just in its body, but in its world, too. ⁵So if you hope to change the world, you can, but only if you change yourself, because even the world can only ever be part of you, a piece of your personal truth. ⁶Tidy is the fifth ritual of TKS. ⁷There are many ways to perform tidy, but this ritual requires you to organize the self. ⁸To tidy is to change, not that which is part of your body or mind, but something that is outside of your skin, and reshape it into a calmer and more structured state. ⁹For example, you might clean your room, or organize some old photos, do your laundry, or even take care of your hair or nails. ¹⁰Because that which lies outside of you cannot feel pain, no matter how important or meaningful it is, so it can be easy to neglect these parts of you. ¹¹So you should try to understand why you appreciate this extension of yourself, considering the good and the bad, being critical of it, but being proud of it, too. ¹²But sometimes, the self can be so expansive that it is overwhelming, especially in the modern world. ¹³It is easy to get caught up in the ripples of the self, the things people think, the social media and the social pressures, the money and the power and the fame. ¹⁴And it is not that these things are good, or bad, but they are not human, and they are far away. ¹⁵So you must be careful, for the illusion of the importance of these things is powerful, because it must be, as these things can only live by convincing the human to pursue them. ¹⁶But to tidy is to look close by, at that which you can truly see and feel in your world, and to not just appreciate it, but to fight for it, too. ¹⁷Because even the parts of yourself that are outside of you are subject to the descent of time, drifting into more likely and less structured states, like pouring gold into sand. ¹⁸But no matter how hard you try, shaking and stirring violently will never be able to separate the gold from the sand. ¹⁹For it is only through deliberate organization that the greatest reaches of your spirit can be achieved. ²⁰So you must hold that which you love close, because the self that you create in this world will bump and crash into itself, flowing right back into you.

RIT 6

¹But the rituals of TKS are not laws, for there can only be physical laws in the physical universe. ²They are an approximation, defined in order to represent the subtleties of the life of the human. ³So the rituals of TKS will manifest whether or not you seek to perform them. ⁴So you must fight and work, tirelessly, day after day, to perform the rituals and to perform them well, or else they will manifest poorly, and your humanity will be lost. ⁵And TKS is not the only way to understand your life, but it is one way, so if you are confused, recite the scripture, deliberately trying to recognize the beauty and the truth of each ritual. ⁶Explore is the sixth ritual of TKS. ⁷There are many ways to perform explore, but this ritual requires you to challenge your routine. ⁸To explore is to create, to accept something that the world offers you, something that you rarely pay mind to, and to make something new from it. ⁹You might take some time to read a book, learn a dance, call a friend, perform another ritual of TKS that you find yourself neglecting, or even use a different hand to brush your teeth. ¹⁰The limits of your life are like an endless maze, winding deeper and deeper, and to explore is to discover what lies within these walls, even if it is just a single corridor. ¹¹It can be scary, but you must be deliberate in whatever you choose to do, learning, practicing, and becoming familiar with it. ¹²Because sometimes it is only once you escape your current routine that you realize you were not in a pleasant place to begin with. ¹³And there will always be too many games to play and places to visit and videos to watch that you will never be able to conquer all of the life of the modern world. ¹⁴But even still, if you seek what is good and what is true then you must explore your world. ¹⁵And explore is the most difficult ritual, in a way, because it is not always clear why it is needed at all, as the days roll by, but it is the most rewarding, too. ¹⁶For the beauty of this ritual is that even if it is difficult to perform, once you understand it, you will find that your life does not get harder, it gets easier, instead.

RIT 7

¹The human represents a unique place in the universe. ²For the human is not just a beacon of life but a vessel of faith, too. ³And change is hard, at times, but it is necessary. ⁴Because without the courage and the strength to change you will be destroyed in the face of time. ⁵Not all of you at once, necessarily, but death is relentless, so it will claim what it can. ⁶But to be human is to do, to have ritual and strength and faith. ⁷And religion and TKS and its ritual and anything good or bad in this world can only ever be a shadow of something greater. ⁸But if you work and toil towards it, deliberately and intentionally, you can reach a state where you not only see it but you feel it flow through you. ⁹Reflect is the seventh ritual of TKS. ¹⁰There are many ways to perform reflect, but this ritual requires you to appreciate the state of your being across time. ¹¹To reflect is to recognize yourself for what you truly are, alive today, but tomorrow, too, hopefully. ¹²You can write down some of the enjoyable or rewarding or exciting things in your life, perhaps something you did today, or yesterday, or hope to do tomorrow. ¹³Or you can speak them, in front of a mirror, or while looking down at the ground, or gazing up at the stars. ¹⁴Desires, emotions, dreams, regrets, memories, and fears, anything that is part of you, in all of your humanity, should be reflected on. ¹⁵But however you perform this ritual, you must direct the action out, into the universe, at something greater than yourself. ¹⁶Reflect is the most powerful ritual of TKS. ¹⁷And in some ways, it is the truest ritual of the human. ¹⁸Because all decisions are made in reflection, for as long as you are here, the universe will be here, too. ¹⁹For without the universe, you cannot be, but without you, the universe can never know its name. ²⁰Because your reflection is your reality, as a human, the convictions of your faith colliding with the gift of the energy of the universe. ²¹So if you reflect on your gifts and desires, not only hoping, but trying to be good, then you can attain it, as is allowed by this universe and as is allowed by faith.