Well Worn Paths

With palms together,Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I am back at Daihoji Refuge. I drove through a raging rain storm coming up the mountain, but arrived safely and this morning it appears less cloudy. I woke at 5:30, started a fire in the cook stove, lit my candle and incense, and sat zazen. One of the pleasures of a day, to brings things to a stop and just listen.
Just before I woke, I had a thought, "If you don't like ritual, try driving without a road." I rolled over and wrote it down in my journal. In truth, I've done both and a road is much better. I wonder were the thought came from in the first place? I have been resisting ritual off and on for some time, favoring a much wider application of mindfulness practice, but including short periods of zazen, morning prayers, reciting the Sh'ma, etc.
I remember being a kid and walking through meadows where others had made a path before me. We used to call them "deer paths." There was something wonderful about these paths: pressed dirt, just narrow enough for your body to go between the flowers. We knew we were going somewhere, but were not entirely sure where. Ritual offers us such well-beaten paths. The wheels roll easier. We do what is familiar. The familiarity resonates. And though we travel these paths daily, we are never quite sure where they will take us.
May we each begin a trek down such a path today.
Be well.