Rituals and Routines

O blooming one, O goddess,
O Zemyna, bloom for us:
bloom in the rye-fields,
bloom in the barley-fields,
bloom in all the fields,
bloom now and bring us
grain in the harvest to come.

--Lithuanian folksong

Human beings are ritual-making creatures. We might not build them consciously, but form them we will.

This is so true it's not even funny. What's even funnier, at least to me, is the fact that I had already recognised that it was something that I've done here.

I mean, beyond the fact of getting up in the morning to do morning Orisons, and then turning on the computer to read the meditation for the day, so that my day can be a waking meditation before I actually sit down to do the actual meditation, and then write the notes that make these entries... the true 'spiritual' part my rituals, I have a whole bunch of secular rituals I've 'created' for myself.

After my early morning ritual, it on with the kettle - let that boil while I wash and dress. Make tea in my cup and in my travel cup ready to take on the bus for school, eat breakfast... leave for school, where I must participate in the school rituals and routines. Then when I get back I'll have a cup of tea, take a shower, settle down to meditate for a time, and either write or type up the notes for the entry.... then as I sit here typing up today I find myself questioning - is that ritual or routine? What makes the difference? The meaning of both words is so similar, so what makes the difference between one and the next. My heart tells me that it's 'intent' that makes the difference. So I suppose it could be argued that most of what I've just spoken of is a 'routine' and not a ritual - but... I've written elsewhere about living with intent, or 'conscious living' where the spiritual in every act we do is recognised. Thus in making my tea, I acknowledge the water, the plants that went to make the tea and the sugar, the animals that provided the milk... and so on... which makes what I've spoken of ritual.

It's an interesting conundrum to me.

Perhaps it is our own impressions of whether what we do is ritual or routine. In which case I stick by my original declaration that I have made my own rituals, by which I am living.