culture

Actually, I Get Ancestor Worship

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In my readings on religion and spirituality, in my own spiritual journeys, I keep coming across practices of Ancestor Worship. As time goes on, I honestly see the value of it in general. I’m not even talking any possible supernatural benefits.

What kicked this off was some post I read online about a person respecting a well in a place they grew up in. Someone had ensured the community with that well and led them to discuss the purpose and value of Ancestor Worship.. So I figured I’d collect and share my thoughts so far on Ancestor Worship for discussion and of course to try to put them into words.

First, Ancestor Worship provides awareness of history. Understanding where you came from and why is important, and like any kind of history it makes you stop and think. It also means you stop and think about what you’re doing for the future. Are you going to be the Ancestor remembered or the one forgotten?

Secondly, Ancestor Worship has the benefit of essentially ritualizing history. One connects with their past, understands where they came from and so on – all bound in the power of ritual. This has a way of energizing our connections and bringing and sustaining their meaning.


Third, Ancestor Worship encourage what I’ve called an “ecosystem” approach to life, which I’ve written of a number of times. To look to the past and the future, to be aware of history and connection, to bring it to life in ritual is to understand the connectedness of the world. Like other practice I’ve discussed (contemplation of correspondences, worship of gods, etc.) it keeps life organic.

Fourth, Ancestor Worship encourages (hopefully) respect for what one has. To understand why you have where you live, the people who worked on your community, etc. is powerful. It’s a reminder of how we got where we are. Your possession isn’t yours, it’s history – and eventually someone else’s.

Now having enumerated my thoughts on the benefits, a few thoughts in turn on healthy ways to engage in said Ancestor worship.

  1. “Ancestors” aren’t blood relatives. Ancestors are people who helped us be who we are now and who we respect. Your grandparents may have been awful so forget them – but maybe you honor the founder of your profession.
  2. “Ancestors” aren’t perfect, and I view “Ancestor Worship” as a way to build on their good and make up for the bad. If they’re flawed people worthy of respect, then part of Ancestor Worship is doing good with what they left us – while not carrying on their flaws.
  3. Ancestors can be respected a number of ways, but it should be ritualized. It may be as simple as giving thank, or donations, or celebrating their birthday. Make it organized and also meaningful.
  4. Ancestor Worship doesn’t have to involve any supernatural elements. That’s optional.

Granted these are not thoughts for an organized practice or anything. I myself don’t do much more at the time than occasionally express respect for certain people responsible for the books I read, or acknowledge the lineage of where I work. But maybe organizing them will give me direction – and of course provide my readers and friends with something to read and discuss.

–Xenofact

Thoughts On Spiritual Validity

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I was discussing assorted spiritual issues with a friend during one of our regular calls.* We specifically discussed attempts by people to claim spiritual authority and out of the discussion two ways came to mind that I wanted to discuss. Now that I see them, I really see them, and thus I share my insights and the opportunity to call me on my bullshit.

The first is what I call the Ancient Tradition method. People claim their spiritual path is valid as it’s an Ancient Tradition. The endurance of said tradition over time is a marker of its validity. In addition, those who follow or say they follow the Ancient Tradition thus claim spiritual authority. It’s “old-is-good” essentially.

Of course there’s a few flaws with this method, the first and foremost of which is, if you’re aware of any systems or organizational theory, it’s that time is not a measure of validity. The ability for something to survive is a measure of its ability to survive. There indeed may be other valid reasons for its survival, and in cultural areas it gets fuzzy, but it’s not an immediate measure of actual truth.

But there’s more. The idea that there are unchanging traditions is on the face of reality, pretty laughable. People change, cultures change, ideas change, spiritual leaders change. What you see of a tradition today is not what it was a thousand years ago, or perhaps even ten years ago. Maybe said Ancient Tradition survives because it did change – which might give it more validity if you admit it.

And, of course, plenty of people claim to be the bearers of said Ancient Tradition that are liars, frauds, or self-deceiving. If you follow any “spiritual history” you’ve read about things made up of whole cloth more or less and treated as ancient. Ancient Tradition isn’t what it used to be in some cases, because it never was anything.

The other form of Spiritual Authority I saw was Initiatory Authority. Someone claims a direct revelation, often through great suffering, that granted them power and authority. In modern times, it took on an almost masochistic flavor.

The amount of people I’d see studying modern cults that claimed some horrific trauma that granted them a kind of religious or spiritual insight was disturbing. There was the usual “survivor of satanic abuse” story which was almost disturbingly pat. But there were also refugees from alien-controlled Secret Space Programs, or those claiming to have been mind-controlled by nefarious forces until they broke free. It was validity through suffering.

I mean you get the occasional people who just had deep revelations, but it felt like in modern times suffering was validation. This is why I honestly think some conspiracy theories and cultic behavior are substitutes and declaration of a need for therapy.

(Plus, note how these Initiatory Authorities often tie into Conspiracy Theories in modern times? That also seems to be getting a bit of Ancient Tradition going there.)

Either way, the idea of some kind of Initiatory experience or revelation giving someone authority was common, but also needed validation. Usually these days you just get charisma instead, or at least rage and sarcasm. But validation? Nope.

As we discussed these ideas, I felt I had a better sense of the modern (and perhaps not-so-modern) spiritual landscape. People were trying to claim authority from Ancient Tradition or some kind of Initiatory experience, perhaps both. In the age of the Internet Influencers these seemed even more amplified.

But what was missing was the thing that matters most – does the spiritual tradition actually help out? What good is it? What is it doing for you, for others, for the world? Are there useful techniques that make you saner, happier, calmer, provide insights and practical experiences? Does it work?

The people in charge, the authorities, the initiated, need to prove what they’ve got works. I wasn’t seeing a lot of proof, but I was seeing a whole lot of trying to claim it. Maybe because if you’ve actually got some spiritual goodness going on you don’t need to get flashy (says the Taoist guy).

This is where I get things like people joining religious traditions for community and support – theologically things may be questionable but the community is real. This is where I get why some Buddhists and Taoist practices have endured as they work – the Four Noble truths are helpful and Golden Flower breathing has results.

In the end, I’m interested in results. Those I can understand I can use. Sometimes they surprise me . . .

But when I see Ancient Tradition and Initiatory Authority pop up? I get suspicious. For good reason.

* If you and a friend are busy, or you’re physically distant, try a regular phone chat, like every two weeks or once a month. It’s very helpful and it’s not being on the computer (he writes, on a computer).

–Xenofact

But What If We’re No One?

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In 2026 there are two trends that I think threaten people’s sense of identity. I mean there’s a lot of bad trends in 2026, so I need to be clear. If you’re reading this in another decade, I hope things are less terrible.

The trends specifically are AI and Prediction Markets (ie gambling). Both trends are destructive. AI is over-rated, over-exposed use of statistical tools to assemble language that overshadows actual useful technology. Prediction Markets are just gambling, only gambling on anything, and gambling has gotten pretty terrible with Sports Betting. They’re wrecking the economy, used to funnel money to the grotesquely rich, and so on – but also they destroy identity by destroying personhood.

Let’s take a look at AI. AI is pitched as a replacement for not just people but for thinking. You can get rid of workers and then they don’t do what they do, what they do as part of their lives and careers. You also can not need to know anything, just prompt an AI and then get Slop you can pass off as something valuable. AI is about degrading knowledge and degrading thought.

You have to learn something, do something, make something to achieve results. AI replaces that, AI means you’re nothing but a prompt-enterer at best. AI replaces people with something that can’t truly do their job as it’s not about being a kind of person. It also replaces being the kind of person that knows and does things with typing a prompt.

AI removes identity from the equation. AI is about not being anything, just weak connective tissue between pretend intelligence. You’re not a person, you’re not anyone.

The Prediction Markets are about bets, periods. There might be some skill involved, but the core skill is to be able to make bets and predict things. That kind of skill isn’t necessarily being used anywhere else, just to try to get a cash payout. Also some people are just placing bets and seeing whatever happens.

And that’s not including market manipulation, which is an important subject as of this writing. What if you’re placing bets then just manipulating what goes on – playing on insider information, making deals, threatening people? Are you building anything? Making anything? Being anyone?

It’s all odds and odds manipulation. There’s no one home, just desires for payoffs. Nothing is coming of it. No one is being anything, just gut bacteria in the odds market.

AI and Prediction Markets are all about poking buttons, statistics, odds, and not building skills, or relations, or learning things that make you someone. It’s a world of emptiness and voidness. It’s techno-economic trends that dehumanize people in many ways.

Do I have any solutions? Well, yes, be skeptical of these things and work to build yourself and others as people – folks with knowledge and skills, and roles, and citizenship. Be sure to keep people skeptical and aware.

But also as I expect both of these to go very wrong, you can also promote regulation, limitations, community opposition, and of course witty “I told you so’s”.

–Xenofact