It’s amazing to me that we live in such a supposed technologically advanced time and people are still running around thinking that things like rosary beads, doing the sign of the cross, wrapping themselves in shawls, wearing head gear and the like are going to make god happy and make an actual difference in peoples lives. Either in a positive way by following these rituals, or in a negative way by avoiding them. One of my favorite is this fear of offending god by saying things like “god damn it” or “I swear to god”. Or the need to capitalize god in a sentence (God not god). Imagine for a moment if it were actually true that if you swore to god he’d punish you. What kind of sensitive god would that be? Creating the whole universe and his ego is so shallow that if you use his name in vain he gets offended. Just what type of overwhelming proof would people need to abandon such a belief? Clearly I can say “god damn” several times a day and nothing seems to happen at that moment so it’s clearly some delayed punishment down the road type of thing. How many times do you need to say “god damn it” before god gets really mad and zaps your ass with a lightening bolt? So far I said “god damn it” six times today and nothing happened. Apparently, people are really still beating drums to their gods around a big great fire with wooden sticks in their noises and they don’t recognize it. If we look at some other so called “primitive” belief systems and watched some tribe dancing for rain you’d say ‘that’s crazy - look at those idiots” But yet people still believe that making the sign of the cross is going to bring them some blessing. Amazing. It goes back to two things. The first is the almost universal simplistic view that people have about our existence and out potential creator. The pronoun “he “ is indicative of this type of belief system. “He” is like us. “He” gets mad. “He” gets insulted. Are you serious? Some human type “he” created all this? And “he’s” just as sensitive as the rest of us? That would make me sad - not afraid to piss “him” off. If that’s the case - god damn it we’re all screwed. I’d hate to think that the all mighty creator get’s mad when you don’t wear some hat all the time. Or fail to kneel before an alter. Is it just me or does anyone else see the parallel to other rituals in the past which we now find retarded (yes I say retarded) . Second, it’s that these ritualistic beliefs are like colds. Once you pick one up from some alleged reliable source that’s usually all you need. After that it’s almost impossible to get rid of it. “My dad said so” or “that’s part of my religion” is the standard type of explanations you get when you ask someone why doing something ritualistically is going to make a difference.
Do people remember when we used to sacrifice animals? What happened to that practice? Allegedly it was supposed to appease the gods. No more I guess. Instead we replaced that ritual with things like wearing certain attire, kneeling, chanting, bowing, making the sign of a cross, etc. I have to assume that one day someone woke up and said “you know that whole kill the animal on the alter thing is not working for god anymore. It’s so messy - get me a yamika instead”. And for those Christians and Jews I would remind you all that sacrificing animals is biblically sanctioned. So how come it’s being ignored? Did god send out a memo entitled “animal sacrifices to be replaced with kneeling?” I must have missed the memo. So basically these rituals are taught (or caught) and then once we have a belief that they are actually doing something affirmative for our relationship with god, unfortunately (as I have noted before) our genetic biological programming makes us instinctively want to defend this idea despite the fact that it’s just an extension of things we clearly no longer believe. While we know killing animals does not work to actually influence either god or our situation, we find some other thing to do which we think does. However, the replacement ritual is just really a modified version of the original. And bizarre as it is, we just don’t recognize the substitution. What’s more, we’re often afraid (fearful) that we actually might offend god if we don’t keep doing this ritual. Which is also a byproduct of our programming and social interactions (with for example authority, i.e. our parents). Not only that, but we’re not even willing to acknowledge that such a practice might be wrong even in the face of probative evidence that it’s practice is not having any effect. If all you needed to do was pray or eat kosher or follow 10 or even 10,000 rules to stay clear of trouble than all those “religiously” following those things would be invincible. And as we know they are not.
Hey, not too long ago we killed other humans to make the gods happy and that also seems to have faded away. Which brings me to the point of all this, a little story about human sacrifice. As the historical telling goes...
Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, there was a custom of the people on the island of Formosa (now Taiwan) to offer human sacrifices. At that time the island was governed by a respected and beloved emperor by the name of Goho. Goho wanted to change the barbaric practice and instituted his law which permitted only animals and not humans to be sacrificed. However, one year there was a terrible drought causing a famine on the island. The people believed it was their failure to sacrifice to the gods and demanded an immediate human sacrifice. Goho pleaded with his people to abandon this painful and useless ritual. But the people’s superstitious beliefs caused them to resist. “Very well,” said Emperor Goho, “tomorrow morning at dawn go into the forest and you will find your victim for the sacrifice. He will be tied to a tree and wearing a red robe. Kill him for he is your sacrifice.” Early the next morning the men went with their clubs and found things to be just as Goho had said. There was the sacrifice tied to a tree and wearing a red robe, a robe that obscured his face. They rushed forward and killed him. When they pulled away the robe that covered the sacrifice’s face they were mortified to see that it was Goho, their beloved emperor.
Goho had taught them the ultimate lesson about rituals. They had sacrificed their leader and yet the famine continued. The gods had not been appeased. Their ritualistic efforts actually killed what was good. From that time forward there was never again human sacrifice on the island of Formosa. Stated in another way, the practice of a mindless ritual (while having no real effect on our relationship with god) may have a profound affect on our lives. What we are often doing is substituting a manual motion or materialistic action for a better focus on what is important to us and to god.
