The Value of Ritual and Repetition in Meditation

The practice of meditation is a key teaching of Royal Way. Through meditation we are able to touch a place of inner silence where we are no longer identified with our minds—where we taste our divinity. Through meditation, Royal Way founder Michael Gottlieb stated, “We give birth to a new, higher level of consciousness…a state of emptiness, hollowness.” 

Given the deep importance of meditation, how do we incorporate it into our lives as regular practice? One way is to understand the value of ritual and repetition in meditation.

­­­Significance of Ritual in Spiritual Pursuits

Throughout history, in all cultures and spiritual practices, rituals have brought meaning and connection to a higher experience.

For example, in a Japanese tea ceremony, the host and the guest perform a serene, tranquil ritual to connect themselves to the specialness and uniqueness of the moment. The exactness and intentionality of the process creates a sense of peace and silence that deepens their connection with themselves and others.

Another example is the chanting of Buddhist monks, where the rhythmic vibrations of the chant can create a sense of inner peace. Chanting also helps one to focus, to reduce distractions, and to achieve mindfulness.

Native Americans practice numerous rituals, including the sun dance that seeks a blessing for an upcoming harvest, the ghost dance that honors ancestors, and sitting in sweat lodges as a way of purification.

Drumming is a ritual practiced in cultures all over the world, such as the taiko drumming in Japanese Buddhist temples and ceremonial drumming in West African societies.

All of these are examples of how ritual, generally a physical practice, reflects and enhances one’s spiritual practice. That is certainly true in Royal Way.

Significance of Ritual in Royal Way

For many members of the Royal Way spiritual community, meditation itself is a daily ritual. Practicing it regularly is the way to achieve the benefits of inner silence. Making meditation a ritual incorporates it into our daily lives and allows us to experience the divine as our true identity.

For some, this means setting aside a special place in their home to practice daily. This could be as simple as sitting on the same pillow every day, doing a daily mantra meditation, or meditating in a sanctuary in a dedicated room.

Royal Way teaches many different types of meditation, some of which are more physical than others—for example walking, dancing, chanting, or whirling can all be significant forms of meditation. “Royal Way is union,” Royal Way founder Michael Gottlieb writes. “Its work is to integrate experientially the natural and divine processes.” These physical types of meditation are a way to experience the union of our physical and spiritual selves.

“We are totally and constantly invested in our bodies,” Michael writes, “and it is absurd to expect to become spiritual without bringing the body into our effort, because our whole being is completely immersed in it. So the force of ritual has always been to fuse those two.”

“That is the purpose of ritual,” Michael adds. One example of this fusion of physical and spiritual that Michael describes is chanting. He writes:

“If we are accurate as to the right timing and the right words or chanting, then a great and powerful ritual is created, capable of carrying us to the highest  places. I include chanting in the physical even though it is the least physical element in the physical world. Sound is less physical than the flesh of the body, but it is still physical. That is what chanting is about. It is the connection, the central point that is between the wholly spiritual and wholly material. Sound is the connecting link.” 

Two examples of meditation that incorporate the physical are drumming and whirling. As Michael tells us, traditional practitioners of whirling could “whirl at great speed for hours. The famous whirling of the dervish was really an effort to completely physicalize the spirit and spiritualize the physical.”

A number of Royal Way community members practice whirling, and many are ardent and gifted drummers. They achieve exactly what Michael Gottlieb describes: They physicalize the spirit and spiritualize the physical.

Royal Way is a community of seekers made up of individuals who desire to bring the experience of God into their lives. So Royal Wayans practice meditation both individually and collectively. Both have unique value and importance. As Michael Gottlieb writes, “Out of great individuation grows a collective. That collective is on a higher plane.” 

Making Meditation a Ritual

Whether individual or collective, sitting in stillness or engaging our physicality, repeating a mantra or chanting, what all Royal Way meditations have in common is repetition. Some meditations are daily, some are weekly, and others are monthly. Group meditation is part of virtually every retreat at Royal Way Spiritual Center, and individual meditation is the way to experience the many benefits of meditation in our daily lives.

Royal Way teaches that “The worthwhile things in life—the lasting values—need preparation, contemplation, repetition, and time.” So it is with meditation. Repetition in meditation, and making meditation a ritual, help us experience the divine as the ongoing reality of our lives. As Michael Gottlieb writes, “We create an emptiness, a space, for something new to happen. A knowing of our own reality begins to blossom. An awareness of our beauty raises our consciousness. A sense of our power blasts our walls of isolation. We are no longer willing to settle for a drab and bland existence in this plastic environment. We begin to create our own world.”

Conclusion

• Meditation is crucial to discovering one’s own divinity.

• Incorporating ritual and repetition in meditation helps us experience higher consciousness as the ongoing reality of our lives.

• Pursuing our individual spiritual quest in the context of a spiritual collective enhances the depth of our experience.

• Royal Way community members practice meditation both individually and in group settings.

• Integrating our spiritual journey with our physical reality grounds our experiences in a meaningful and sustaining way.

• The opportunities for discovering our divinity are never-ending, and repeating the experience of meditation as a ritual offers the opportunity for a continual connection to each moment’s fullness.

• Embracing the ritual and repetition of meditation enhances our spiritual journey. “We create an emptiness, a space, for something new to happen. A knowing of our own reality begins to blossom. An awareness of our beauty raises our consciousness.”