Recitations,
Rituals,
Prostrations
Ablutions,
These are nothing but empty practices, as long as we have not perceived that they are external responses to an inner call.
As long as we practice out of an internal injunction responding to an external obligation (authority, belief, power), these are nothing but feverish and automated movements, of the order of sacrifice, of the ritual of appeasement of the pagan gods.
We must travel the path
From Abraham’s sacrifice to Jesus’ prayer
From the Vedas to Advaita Vedanta.
Recitation, rituals, prostrations, ablutions…
The cupped hands
with which we drink from the inner stream,
To which we have found the path.
The fear of lack or of not doing things correctly (scruples)
Reveals the distance from the stream
From the stream of rituals where one kneels and drinks,
All is right.
Each practice is authentic even if it does not respect the letter of the texts or the customs of human groups.
Many seek to drink
Arms outstretched and hands spread toward the sky.
Until then, a few drops of rain will fall on their lips.
Staring at their hands, will they even know?
Notes & Silence 
Leaving aside whether the pagan gods require appeasement any more than the Insecure Tyrant of the Abrahamic based systems, the issue seems to me to be that, once the « correct form of ritual » is recognised as empty, ritual itself loses any importance.
And that is good.
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Again, the Abrahamic based systems are not…
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Maybe.
But we often notice a stages anticipation of that conclusion, which has more to do with social positioning than spirituality.
This includes writing books and posts on Zen and meditation.
Defusing such pretensions by trying to appear as being aware of them may as well be part of it
Ahhh
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