Another true or untrue...you decide.

It's like the chop wood/carry water saying.... I'll spin it differently for purposes of illustration:

You grow up brushing your teeth before bed. Because that's how you were raised. It's become a habit, yes, a ritual. You don't even think about it anymore, you just do it. Then one day, you ask, "Why do I brush my teeth every day?" And let's say you stop brushing your teeth, to see what will happen. A year passes and you develop cavities. Now you know why brushing your teeth every day is a good ritual to have. So you go back to brushing your teeth every day again.

If you never had the ritual of brushing your teeth every day, you'd grow up with cavities and not know any better that brushing your teeth could've prevented them. But if you never questioned the brushing of the teeth, then you would not "know" why it's a good ritual to have.

This may just be Sunday morning mental masturbation.

[Moonglow]

Hello,

Yes I would agree that knowing the reasons behind rituals gives a deeper understanding to the ritual and can also bring about whether the ritual is being productive or not.

The ritual itself does not bring about the knowledge, IMO, but understanding its purpose can and in this the ritual can reenforce the power of the knowledge. But then again depends on what the ritual is.


Peace

Well I guess meditation could be called a ritual. Depends on how one references the word 'ritual'. It can be used in many contexts.

[lemex]

Originally Posted by nightowl

Ritual is necessary for us to know anything.
Ken Kesey

nightowl

Think of Ritual, meditation can be a ritual, chanting by monks is ritual, all prepare the individual to focus. Rituals are but acts directing ones focus and preparation. All form of self reflection seem to require preparation for the transition to occur.

Thanks all, I love what I am reading...it would seem by your responses that ritual is an important part of life and the knowledge we gain from it can be deep or shallow... religious or non-religious, spiritual or non-spiritual, mundane or meaningful...there are a number of different levels it would seem in how ritual effects our lives.

Keep um coming...

nightowl