"No Rituals"? What about 5:6?
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Peace and bump,
It can be quite interesting to ponder on the things we do, that we take as part of our faith or religion. In all truthfulness, very much is ritual, which in turn means that it is actually repetition... recycling of old material.
What is a ritual actually? If you think about it, at the foundation and source of any ritual, there is a thought-form that is repeated. Whether we do physical movements or verbal or mental recitations, they are repetitions of a thought-form that we execute in our mind over and over. It's a mental pattern, a thought-form, which involves executing words, thoughts, movements and similar. It's repetitive and mechanical in essence, even though we may spice it up with emotions or other things that make it seem more genuine and real.
Why do we do this? How can this benefit us? Why would we be required to mechanically repeat ANYTHING, even the God?s names? The thing I?m questioning is not WHAT we say and do, but WHY, WHEN and HOW we do it. If we don?t do it out of inspiration in the moment of Now, then isn?t it dead... mechanical, without spirit?? Again, this is not about what to do and say, or what to avoid, but it is rather the reasons for doing it. Did we follow our inner guidance or did we follow a mechanical habit?
Will we benefit from repeating old things, or will we benefit from expressing ourselves genuinely in the manner that arises in the moment, expressing that which comes out from inside, that which comes with spirit in the Now-moment??
I think these things can be valuable to ponder, in order to get to know oneself better and to evolve and get closer to one's real self and subsequently to get away from the disconnected and separatist, egoic mind that doesn?t want us to open our eyes and be awake so that we can walk the straight path.
This was just a thought-provoker... which I find important.
All the best!