#13
Meeting 13Being a student and coming to know
Intention and the work of spiritual study
Continuing1 hr 25 min
Meeting 20
Why are you doing this? Ritual and lived experience
Fasting, an exercise, a particular action. You can follow the form without asking why it is happening. Or you may already naturally be in the state that an exercise is intended to help someone else enter. This meeting explores that distinction and what we bring to everyday interaction.
February 27, 20261 hr 48 minBeing a student and coming to know
#20
What do I actually experience when I do a spiritual exercise or observe a ritual?
- For those who want to understand the meaning of their spiritual actions
- For those who notice the difference between following a form and their own state
What you can explore here
Return to the question of why, beyond whether you are doing it correctly
Explore ritual and a person's natural state
Pay attention to your own participation in everyday interaction
In the author's words“We go through and live through such processes every day in the way people interact with one another.”
What the conversation covers
- Fasting: the question of why a person observes it
- Ritual, exercise, and state
- Purity of consciousness in relating to other people
- Simultaneous states and everyday attention
This is a recording of a live meeting with participants' questions and examples. The topics describe its contents; they are not an outline for a separate course.
The question here is not which exercise is more effective. The focus is the meaning of an action and its connection to natural lived experience.
Return to your own experience.
- Why am I doing this particular thing?
- Am I following the form, or noticing what happens to me?
- Am I suggesting an exercise to another person without seeing their own state?
Related recordings and collections
Included in these collections
What to keep in mind
The example of fasting is used to explore the meaning of an action. This page does not recommend changing your diet, fasting, or forgoing medical care.
Does this claim that all rituals are useless?
No. The question is framed differently: why this particular person takes this action, and what they experience. Ritual and a natural state are not reduced to a general judgment of good or bad.
Background: detail of “No. 6. Eye,” October 30, 2025 · Alexander Volchek