Sacred Ritual Sun, 3rd March, 2013
In recent days I have been exploring the meaning of ritual, specifically from the Hindu and Catholic perspectives. It gives me a renewed sense of the value of the rituals of my own faith tradition and the value of ritual in ordering the lives of all creatures.
As does so much of our education in life, it began with an assignment. The recent 30 Days of Love campaign invited participants to reach out and experience worship in another faith community. So I asked a Hindu friend if he would be my guide and allow me to accompany him at the Hindu temple in West County. As I think most people would, he welcomed the opportunity to share his faith tradition, assuming I would see the value and beauty in it that he sees. Despite my experience with Hindu people in everyday life, I was not prepared for this form of worship.
The first revelation is that it was not an organized group activity as I was foolishly expecting. Worshipers reverently make their way around the collection of shrines that house statues of the principle gods and goddesses. At each, they place palms together, fingers pointing upward, say a prayer and leave a coin or two. Touching the idols at designated places was a key activity, often followed by circumambulation of some of the larger shrines, or simply kneeling in reverence. The only participation of a priest was to serve some fragrant drops of holy water for us to touch to our lips and to our heads. Upon exit, we rang a bell to let the deities know of our presence in the temple. The most striking thing of all was the complete wordlessness of it all.
Then yesterday, I attended a Catholic memorial mass for the mother of a friend and co-worker. You might think this would be the Western opposite to the Eastern experience, but you would only be partly right. Again, there was the ritual touching and holy water (though disappointingly devoid any exotic fragrances) as well as the ringing of bells and kneeling in reverence. Though there was no stations of the cross ritual in connection with this mass, that common Catholic experience is strikingly similar to the Hindu practice of going station to station and praying or meditating on the meaning of each icon. With the pantheon of Catholic saints on display all around, there is more in common that not with the Hindu experience.
Out of respect for both of the dear friends who were kind enough to take me under their wings and lead me through these rituals of worship, I would love to say what a beautiful and uplifting experience it was.
But I have to be honest and tell you it was more like making love for the first time. Awkward, and not inspiring of confidence, but ultimately completed with a sense of some relief.
The rituals without a doubt are beautiful and meaningful to those who practice them regularly. After meditating on this, I have come to this rather obvious conclusion: The fact that religious and other rituals are shared with others in a community of faith is what gives them real meaning. There is no magic that rubs off and sends the neophyte into spasms of ecstasy. In other words, the consistent sharing of our rituals with others are what binds us together, not the rituals themselves. Like in Plato's cave metaphor, the rituals are only the reflected shadows of the true meaning which may remain hidden from outsiders. As Exupery wrote, we live not by things but by the meaning of things.
For that's what religion is, literally, the binding together of human spirits, as ligaments connect the bones in our bodies or as ligatures connect letters into beautiful words.
Like love-making, it is well worth the effort to try again and do it better. Rather than trying to learn the rituals, perhaps I will do better to start by learning truths. The rituals, then, will follow.
Click on the third picture below to see images of sacred symbols found at First Unitarian.
In recent days I have been exploring the meaning of ritual, specifically from the Hindu and Catholic perspectives. It gives me a renewed sense of the value of the rituals of my own faith tradition and the value of ritual in ordering the lives of all creatures.
As does so much of our education in life, it began with an assignment. The recent 30 Days of Love campaign invited participants to reach out and experience worship in another faith community. So I asked a Hindu friend if he would be my guide and allow me to accompany him at the Hindu temple in West County. As I think most people would, he welcomed the opportunity to share his faith tradition, assuming I would see the value and beauty in it that he sees. Despite my experience with Hindu people in everyday life, I was not prepared for this form of worship.
The first revelation is that it was not an organized group activity as I was foolishly expecting. Worshipers reverently make their way around the collection of shrines that house statues of the principle gods and goddesses. At each, they place palms together, fingers pointing upward, say a prayer and leave a coin or two. Touching the idols at designated places was a key activity, often followed by circumambulation of some of the larger shrines, or simply kneeling in reverence. The only participation of a priest was to serve some fragrant drops of holy water for us to touch to our lips and to our heads. Upon exit, we rang a bell to let the deities know of our presence in the temple. The most striking thing of all was the complete wordlessness of it all.
Then yesterday, I attended a Catholic memorial mass for the mother of a friend and co-worker. You might think this would be the Western opposite to the Eastern experience, but you would only be partly right. Again, there was the ritual touching and holy water (though disappointingly devoid any exotic fragrances) as well as the ringing of bells and kneeling in reverence. Though there was no stations of the cross ritual in connection with this mass, that common Catholic experience is strikingly similar to the Hindu practice of going station to station and praying or meditating on the meaning of each icon. With the pantheon of Catholic saints on display all around, there is more in common that not with the Hindu experience.
Out of respect for both of the dear friends who were kind enough to take me under their wings and lead me through these rituals of worship, I would love to say what a beautiful and uplifting experience it was.
But I have to be honest and tell you it was more like making love for the first time. Awkward, and not inspiring of confidence, but ultimately completed with a sense of some relief.
The rituals without a doubt are beautiful and meaningful to those who practice them regularly. After meditating on this, I have come to this rather obvious conclusion: The fact that religious and other rituals are shared with others in a community of faith is what gives them real meaning. There is no magic that rubs off and sends the neophyte into spasms of ecstasy. In other words, the consistent sharing of our rituals with others are what binds us together, not the rituals themselves. Like in Plato's cave metaphor, the rituals are only the reflected shadows of the true meaning which may remain hidden from outsiders. As Exupery wrote, we live not by things but by the meaning of things.
For that's what religion is, literally, the binding together of human spirits, as ligaments connect the bones in our bodies or as ligatures connect letters into beautiful words.
Like love-making, it is well worth the effort to try again and do it better. Rather than trying to learn the rituals, perhaps I will do better to start by learning truths. The rituals, then, will follow.
Click on the third picture below to see images of sacred symbols found at First Unitarian.
