Everyday Rituals

GUEST POST by JACOB WATSON

While the events of our everyday lives are often repetitious, to see them as rituals brings the energy of the sacred to daily life.

Years ago, walking in an urban park I sat on a bench to rest. I watched a fly buzz around my head and then disappear into the bushes. Suddenly, sitting down to rest was completely unique. It would never be repeated in that same way in my life. I had sat down and noticed the fly. It was my experience and always would be mine. It is still with me, offering a continuous glimpse of the sacred.

The significance of everyday events as rituals is captured by the poet Rilke’s words when he speaks to God and says, “If you should be thirsty, there’s no one to get you a glass of water.”

Here’s an example of how a small, everyday act can be ritualized:

When you place a glass of water down onto the tabletop, for you or for someone else, be newly aware first of your hand gripping the class. Feel which fingers curl around the smooth surface and which of your fingers you are using, probably the thumb on one side of the glass and fingers on the other.

Bring your consciousness to the surface of your fingers. Now notice your whole body. Are you leaning down towards the table.? Perhaps you are already sitting down, with your arm extended over the tabletop. Lower your glass of water slowly, more slowly than ever before. Notice how the light reflects differently on the water as it juggles slightly in the glass as you move it downward.

Slow down even more. Now be aware of when the edge of the bottom of the class first touches the table, glass kissing wood. Your motion is exceedingly slow so that one edge of the bottom of the glass touches first, and then, slowly, the other. Your fingers are still guiding the glass downward ever so slowly. Now feel the weight transfer, first as energy in your fingers gripping the glass, then slowly, as you allow the tabletop to receive, gradually, the weight of the glass. The water awaits.

Suddenly, acknowledging everyday acts as rituals, allows us to feel we are no longer alone.

There is a presence that is not simply watching us, not simply accompanying us, but in the strange new way, now part of us. It is the divine presence that lowers the glass of water slowly to the table, transferring the weight of the glass of water from your hand to the tabletop.

Remember that we’re not changing anything, we’re simply becoming more aware of what already exists, what we do every day.

A meditation practice with a focus on being in the present moment can help bring awareness to everyday rituals

A simple life event suddenly demands consciousness. We are struck anew, as if a lightning bolt woke us up suddenly, and as it turns out, irrevocably. Once we are awake, aware, it’s almost impossible to go back to sleep. We’ve seen something, or perhaps it’s that something has seen us. Our longing to be acknowledged is suddenly true.

Newly aware, we can let go of any judgments, like having to decide about whether this act is good or bad, purposeful, or trivial, effective or a waste of time. What a relief! No energy spent making a judgment. It just happened. The glass of water is now on the tabletop. Nothing from the past intrudes.

Nothing from the future inhibits. Simply acceptance of the glass now sitting on the tabletop. Even how it got there fades into the past. It could have been the divine that placed it there, as perhaps it was.

My fingers no longer feel the glass. The water is now still. The glass is at rest. I am at rest.

Jacob Watson is an interfaith minister, author and spiritual teacher. He is the founding Abbot of  the Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute of Maine, and has written three spiritual books, including Essence: The Emotional Path to Spirit. His recorded meditations and children’s stories are available on Insight Timer. Jacob provides Spiritual Companionship, individual meetings – in his home office sanctuary or via Zoom. Email: jacobw@gwi.net