Practical Religion

Dec 14, 2005 21:03

I'm finding myself rather disappointed with my own religious practices.  It's not that I am disappointed with the Pagan path nor that I feel I made an incorrect choice, because I'm not and I don't ( Read more... )

ramble, religion, ritual

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pooka_madness December 15 2005, 19:46:12 UTC
My advice to you is: don't be such a lazy arse.

No, seriously.

You don't have time? Make time. Just as an experiment, try treating those holiday celebrations as though they were an obligation. Don't worry so much about writing out some elaborate ritual, which takes time to research, and requires scholarly and analytical thought. That's not what religion is about, at least not in my view. The preparation of ritual space is in itself a ritual, and taking a small block of time out of your day is often sacrifice enough. Just set aside 15 minutes during which you're going to pray and then keep to it.

Honestly, you're putting up your own roadblocks. Its like thinking that you ought to thank someone, and then putting it off because you haven't got any nice stationary on which to write a note. And of course you can't get to the store right away, so you add it to your to do list where it sits and molders, and before you know it you're stressed out and disappointed in yourself and you still haven't thanked anyone. Whereas if you had just picked up the phone and called them when you thought of it, it'd be done by now.

I think you might be surprised by the results. Once you're at the center of that circle, once you're in whatever meditative or ritual act you're going through, doing it because its a priority for you... regardless of the mindset you went in with, I think you'll find it does the trick.

This is your spirit we're talking about here. Its clearly important to you. So quit over-intellectualizing, and just make the time.

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lassarina December 16 2005, 00:47:57 UTC
"So quit over-intellectualizing, and just make the time."

Yup. That's it just there. I think too damn much and worry about doing it right. =/ Stupid Virgo.

Nyeh, I know you're right. I just have a hard time motivating myself, I think because I almost feel I haven't enough space to myself. But that could be me making excuses again. I know I got distinctly out of the habit of doing ritual while John was living with me because I felt I couldn't coopt the room for ritual purposes. (And yes I know that's stupid reasoning but it was how I felt.)

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