Rituals, Habits, and/or Traditions?

When you say the word ritual I automatically think of people with OCD, who have to go through a certain routine in specific situations, but maybe that's just me. However, I think the word ritual can be very elusive when it comes to it's actual definition, I mean Erin even asked in class on Monday where the line between ritual and habit was drawn? Therein lies most of what I have to say, I think ritual can mean both, in a way. Maybe I'm technically wrong, but I don't feeling like wasting yours' or my time with a Webster's Dictionary definition of the word "ritual" (it would probably have about 7 different meanings anyway ;), what matters is what the word means to us, since we're discussing their role in our lives and how they can effect positive change within them.

When you ask how rituals can be used to "overcome the influence of the world" I'm immediately reminded of traditions in my family and greater community such as Sabbath meals, various church events (communion), and the like, that are things instituted to remind us of what is important - Christ, family, fellowship, love, etc. These sorts of rituals are things that we don't do everyday because we set them aside as special, something more than the mundane, something meant to bring about a change in us because we haven't grown used to them. In these instances I see the power of rituals/traditions to effect change in us, take us where we want to be, by reminding us of where we come from and what is important by using their unfamiliarity or distinctiveness to jolt us every once in a while as opposed to be repeated so often that we become desensitized to them. Would washing someone's feet mean the same thing to you if you did it everyday?

The answer is what makes us wonder about what we should choose to be our habits? What is worth us doing everyday? And more specifically, what is so important that doing it everyday can't make it mundane? It's here where things like daily devotions, prayer, and quality time with family and friends come up. Yes doing your school work and fulfilling your job requirements everyday is very important, but let's face it that can very quickly get mundane and in the long run we don't care if we went to work everyday or get an A+ on our death bed. So in another meaning, rituals/habits are things that we can choose to do that will bring us closer to realizing the people we want to be, the place we want to end up at, and "overcoming the influence of the world".