Spiritual Ritual

The human psyche is centered on a system of wants and needs. When we are in our first minutes of life we cry for the milk of a mother’s breast. We cry when we want sleep, and we cry when we don’t feel good. It is an essential, inherent human nature—to want something. Through religion people satisfy a want, and—for many—a need. The religious rituals practiced are a means of salvation or enlightenment, whether we are Buddhist, Christian, or Hindu.
A ritual is a practice that acts as a device, a bridge between the mortal and immortal, the physical and the spiritual. Catholics use communion to unite the bodies of sinners with Christ and purify the body. For some it is a symbol. For others it is very real. Buddhists practice paths of enlightenment, not worshiping Buddha, but building their person through enlightenment. Their goal is to create something sacred in themselves through ritual.
Again, rituals are a connection, an activity that makes the spiritual ascertainable to those who practice them, satisfying their need for connection.