body

This morning I attended the Tibetan New Year celebrations at the Riwoche Temple.

I've been saying (or at least feeling) for a while now that I need more religion in my life. Since I was 16, I've had what I felt was a very deep practice. I've always known that I am a cerebral person, and I have experienced religion in a cerebral way, through a practice based on study and contemplation. It is the way I view the world, and I thought that was all I needed from religion.

For a while now, however, I've been feeling like that's not enough. I feel that while I understand religion in a conceptual way, I'm lacking a true emotional connection. I'm starting to really feel the need for that emotional connection. I'm starting to feel that, unless I feel it in my heart, it's not really real.

The ritual this morning mostly consisted of chanting. When you have a religious experience, you feel it in the middle of your chest. When you chant in Tibetan, you feel it in the same spot. I like that. It feels real.

I'm going to start going there regularly.