Ritual and spontaneity

According to Gingerich, spontaneous freedom is incompatible with following a script. However, I aim to show that there is no such incompatibility by examining and comparing spontaneous freedom with a Confucian conception of spontaneity, considering where they overlap and where they may come apart, concluding that there is enough similarity or family resemblance that they fall under the same conceptual umbrella. For Confucianism, spontaneity arises from ritual, which involves scripts. The Confucian insight is that such scripts can yield greater spontaneity. Given the similarity between Confucian spontaneity and spontaneous freedom, I argue that scripts within rituals need not threaten spontaneous freedom and can, in some cases, even enhance it. Additionally, ritual can even enhance the spontaneous freedoms of others. Hence, a Confucian approach to ritual not only undermines the worry of incompatibility between scripts and spontaneous freedom but also can bolster spontaneous freedom for individuals and communities as a whole.