this isn't quite finished or polished, but eh.

[balmofgilead]

It's funny how many things I was taught in a methodical, uninspired, pro forma way when I was younger, without enough attention being devoted by the teachers to the real meaning and significance and how many of those things are now suddenly seeming...better/more worthwhile/more logical to me.

Many of these are religious things. A nine-year-old, simply because of his/her lack of life experiences and perspective, can't really understand the value in aphorisms like "It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it" (IMHO a statement about one's life-work on a grand scale) or a prayer expressing gratitude that everything's working O.K. to be recited after going to the bathroom. To be taught those things by rote, to be taught that, say, you need to say a prayer like that because you have to, because it's a rule, a commandment, ruins it. Uttered spontaneously (and I can imagine a mindful adult sort of having that thought, gratitude, spontaneously, each time they use the bathroom), it's a pretty cool thing, (though, granted, I am not into the heavy God- and God-service stuff: "it would be impossible to stand before You, God, if everything wasn't working alright," but put that aside for a minute) but by rote it's meaningless, and for me it's always been anger-inducing ("goddamn someone's screaming at me to make sure I followed the rules again" was a frequent thought when I was living in a religious environment).

Comments

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

...but by rote it's meaningless, and for me it's always been anger-inducing ("goddamn someone's screaming at me to make sure I followed the rules again" was a frequent thought when I was living in a religious environment).

Yes, I understand. That remains one of my biggest arguments against much of my religious background.

[tobeginagain.livejournal.com]

And yet, as I've mentioned to you before, Asher Yatzar is my absolute favorite bracha. It is the mindfullness, and I can certainly imagine hating being forced to say something so.. well... private when I was younger. But I love it so much that even in my ¿Gd?hating moments/days/months when I refuse to pray/bench/whatever, I still say Asher Yatzar. But that's just me....

[balmofgilead.livejournal.com]

To me, things like food brachos and asher yatzar and davening, while sometimes meaningful, were mainly a source of "did you do/say X yet? go do/say X!" There was never the concept that these things should be done out of mindfullness and personal desire. Ah, well...