Dr. Murtaza Akber Hameer (Arusha, Tanzania) is a medical doctor turned teacher. He pursued his medical degree in India and did the United States medical licensing exams in the USA. He also has a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Dar es Salaam. He is the author of the book, “Learning How To Learn: Doing well in school, college and beyond”. He is passionate about education and teaching with interests also in philosophy, science, theology and spirituality.
Rituals are a universal phenomenon across time and cultures. Every culture and religion has them. Just as genetic information is passed down from one generation to the next, religious practices among the various cultures of the world are transmitted across generations via rituals.
The dictionary defines a ritual as “a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.” But what purpose do rituals serve? Do they always serve their purpose? Can rituals help in our spiritual practice today? Or can we do away with them?
Much of what we do as humans is habitual. From brushing our teeth every morning, to taking our showers, and onto starting our day, most of what we do is automatic, governed by our subconscious behaviours. Habits, or “rituals”, are necessary for getting things done consistently. When it comes to doing things intentionally, when we know why it is we are doing what we are doing, then regular consistency, via “rituals”, is a must so that we may grow, develop and perfect that particular endeavour of ours. To get into shape, a “ritual” of daily or consistent exercise is needed. To do well in school, a “ritual” of daily studying is vital. Rituals, broadly speaking, go beyond the religious sphere of human existence.
When it comes to Religion and Spirituality, the aim of these domains of human existence is to develop the soul’s relationship with the one we call God or the Divine. It’s about a lifelong, continuous communion with the Beloved. Religious rituals such as prayers and fasting allow just that, when done in a consistent manner.
However, there is a potential downside to religious ritual,s and that is when they are not done with the right intention or understanding (which happens to be the case many times.) If one prays regularly, 5 times a day, but does not know why it is that they are praying, or if they pray just to “check it off” the daily list or if they pray out of fear because God has made prayers “obligatory” and “a must” – you better pray or else! – then, in my opinion, that ritual of prayer has failed to achieve its objective. It is the same with fasting. If one fasts during Ramadan because “they have to”, then what does that fast achieve besides a hungry person by sunset?
Therefore, for rituals to be effective in the soul’s transformation, they have to be meaningful. Only then will they deliver to us what they are supposed to deliver. Religious rituals are there to serve our spiritual growth. We are not there to serve the religious rituals. I think it helps to keep this in mind.
The Sufis tell us that rituals without an internal awareness and understanding of the reasons for doing the rituals are like an empty shell – hard on the outside, hollow inside. Ultimately, spirituality starts from within. The religious rituals are meant to be tools designed to help develop the soul. Doing them without the right understanding would be to miss the boat entirely.
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
Dr. Murtaza Akber Hameer (Arusha, Tanzania) is a medical doctor turned teacher. He pursued his medical degree in India and did the United States medical licensing exams in the USA. He also has a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Dar es Salaam. He is the author of the book, “Learning How To Learn: Doing well in school, college and beyond”. He is passionate about education and teaching with interests also in philosophy, science, theology and spirituality.
