Questions regarding the LOO, STS and Religions

[Shemaya]

My observation about ritual is that it grounds the energy of your intention into this reality.

It is a physical manifestation of metaphysical (time/space) reality. That is why ritual is so prevalent in spiritual work because spiritual work is inherently metaphysical.

Rituals give your bodily senses something tangible to connect with spiritual, non-physical energies.

And that is why religions are so popular in our veiled 3-d experience. Religions give structure, form, community and ritual as tools for connection to Spirit. All of this makes Spirit tangible to us. And even though negative STS agendas have co-opted religions to promote their agendas, many STO polarizing beings are doing so through the form of their religion. As Ra said, "orthodox religious systems which have all become somewhat mixed in orientation, yet offer a pure path to the One Creator which is seen by the pure seeker."

[Lavazza]

it is my opinion that if an entity is enough in sync with infinite intelligence and its flows in the space/time nexus s/he is living in, life itself would become a ritual.

Profound!

There is a way of Buddhism dedicated to this concept. I can't remember what the name of it is now, but the basic idea is of "doingness" as a form of meditation. Focusing your energies on your daily life, your work, the people you meet, and et cetera. I see a lot of wisdom in that path. I also see lots of wisdom in ritual though, too. Count me in for the great "middle way".

L&L, ~Lavazza

[Aaron]

it is my opinion that if an entity is enough in sync with infinite intelligence and its flows in the space/time nexus s/he is living in, life itself would become a ritual.

Profound!

There is a way of Buddhism dedicated to this concept. I can't remember what the name of it is now, but the basic idea is of "doingness" as a form of meditation. Focusing your energies on your daily life, your work, the people you meet, and et cetera. I see a lot of wisdom in that path. I also see lots of wisdom in ritual though, too. Count me in for the great "middle way".

L&L, ~Lavazza

That reminds me of another similar concept which I see a boatload of value in. Wu Wei, or "doing without doing" is a concept originating from Taoism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu-wei

[Monica]

There is a way of Buddhism dedicated to this concept. I can't remember what the name of it is now,

Mindfulness

[Etude in B Minor]

There is a way of Buddhism dedicated to this concept. I can't remember what the name of it is now,

Mindfulness

The technical term is "Karma Yoga", although this is more of a Hindu practice, it is also part of Buddhism I believe. It basically means acting without regard for the fruits of the actions, or offering up the fruits of the action to the Creator (which is definitely Hindu not Buddhist).

[Ali Quadir]

Karma yoga?
Wasn't that what you call the cleaning work that needs to be done after a spiritual gathering?

Basically, the idea is that any unpleasant job creates positive karma... Karma yoga is therefore cleaning your karma by doing work.

I think you guys are referring to Zen, because in Zen ordinary practices like creating and drinking tea are converted into ritual which indeed have to be performed with the fullest mindfulness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony

Ritual or non ritual, it doesn't matter as far as I am concerned. The human organism is what does the work, not the ritual or the tools, not even the spirits invoked... And in Zen the purpose is not to perform a ritual, the purpose is to practice mindfulness.

If you want to practice mindfulness an insane exercise is to take a box of matches... Take every match out one by one, study them, see every individual detail of the match... Then when they're all out, put them all in again studying every individual detail of the match, and placing them inside the box on a place that feels like the appropriate spot for the match. You'll be mindful (or mad) in no time.

A better one is to just walk in the now. And adsorb the world through your senses fully. Make every step deliberately. And halt all thought not related to this walk.

In occultism the tools of the trade, the dagger, the sword, the ritual wand, the chalices.. All those objects are considered to be extremely important, they should be chosen with care and be used for nothing else but ritual... That's where the terms sacred and desecration come from.... An object after being used for a while acquires the energy of it's user and the user when attached to a specific tool will respond to the tool just like one of Pavlov's dogs and he will become more mindful purely because the tool is present. That is the theory, and it works.

There's another group who believe you can replace a witches broom with a vacuum cleaner. And that any knife will do, maybe you should wipe off the peanut butter first though. Both groups in the end have the same amount of success...

I personally put more value in the anything goes method. Not because it's inherently superior, but because it doesn't create a dependence on the presence of the tools. And it was made clear to me that the ritual way is not my way. When I started experimenting with occult magick a long long time ago one of the first tools I had was a ring, which I had a jeweler build specifically according to specifications. The first ritual I used it in, at a certain point I was building energy. I focussed it into my hand, and raised my hand for one of those power poses. All the energy was in my hand, and the ring just broke...

I was shocked. But I got the hint, I did not have the ring repaired, and I stopped gathering tools. I only participate in ritual now for social reasons.

[thefool]

A better one is to just walk in the now. And adsorb the world through your senses fully. Make every step deliberately. And halt all thought not related to this walk.

I do this all the time and only realized later that it is practice from the Buddhist teaching. BTW Zen has its root in Buddha...Must have been some past life association...This seems to stop the mind completely and focus things only on the sense of presence, so you are completely aware of the surroundings with no reaction to it...

I have a different view of the rituals. Rituals are 'instruction manuals' to implement certain non-physical concepts. It is very like Scientists discover ideas like combustion engine, Engineer implement them in new gadgets or tools like cars, then there are instruction manuals to use these tools. Performing rituals are utilizing these instructions to drive cars and attain high speed and automation. Utilized incorrectly and you may cause an accident as these are powerful forces... Some rituals are now outdated as the technology is missing pieces and essential components to be complete. For example: if the car is missing fuel then following the instruction manual is not going to do any good.

[Ali Quadir]

A better one is to just walk in the now. And adsorb the world through your senses fully. Make every step deliberately. And halt all thought not related to this walk.

I do this all the time and only realized later that it is practice from the Buddhist teaching. By the way Zen has its root in Buddha...Must have been some past life association...This seems to stop the mind completely and focus things only on the sense of presence, so you are completely aware of the surroundings with no reaction to it...

Exactly, I learned it from Sufi's Though they all learned it from one sufi master who happened to be very close friends with... a zen master.. So I think it's likely to be zen too.

I have a different view of the rituals. Rituals are 'instruction manuals' to implement certain non-physical concepts. It is very like Scientists discover ideas like combustion engine, Engineer implement them in new gadgets or tools like cars, then there are instruction manuals to use these tools. Performing rituals are utilizing these instructions to drive cars and attain high speed and automation. Utilized incorrectly and you may cause an accident as these are powerful forces... Some rituals are now outdated as the technology is missing pieces and essential components to be complete. For example: if the car is missing fuel then following the instruction manual is not going to do any good.

It's a correct view I believe. The instruction manual is a very good analogy, because a ritual tells you what steps to take through consciousness to accomplish something. Be that a shift in consciousness or a magical work.

However, just like building a car there are many ways to perform this type of work. It doesn't require ritual. It just requires your mind to go through certain appropriate motions. Like walking.. You could call it a ritual, left, right, left, right, but it varies so often that you could also object to calling it a ritual. Both views are valid.

Ritual really just means doing something the same time every time you do it. Be that making tea or doing magical work. Doing something over and over again, like playing music, makes you good at it.. But at a certain point musicians learn to improvise.