Religions are unusually successful cultural systems. They have persisted for thousands of years and have likely formed part of every society we know of. Whether you agree with everything they advocate, their popularity suggests they must be getting some things right. In particular, when you find practices that are widespread amongst quite varied religions, this likely reflects a kind of accumulated wisdom about what humans need.
One such example that many religions share is deliberate pausing. At this time of the year, many of us are taking time out. You did not receive this blog two weeks ago because once per summer, we take a small rest. Given how the idea of a respite is so connected to this season, let’s take a look at how religions centre pausing and are deliberate about bringing it into our lives.
Source: Canva.com
The Weekly Pause
Perhaps the best example of a weekly pause is the Jewish practice of Shabbat (or the sabbath). For one day a week, Jews do their best to abstain from all types of work. This derives from the creation story where God rests on the seventh day and forms part of Jewish law, appearing memorably in the ten commandments.
This day of rest was an unusual practice in the Ancient Middle East and was especially surprising in that it applied to everyone and not just elites. A time to rest is thus democratic in Judaism, something everyone deserves. Christians later adopted it – shifting the day to Sunday to reflect the day Jesus rose from the dead – and it is believed this religious practice had some influence in the development of the modern weekend.
For Jews, Shabbat is a day of rest but also one of joy. Shabbat services emphasize cheerful and uplifting music. The rules around what is considered rest versus work are followed most rigidly by the Orthodox but even amongst more liberal Jews, many will turn off their phones on Saturday and not check email. It’s a little reset where we consider what’s important – time to relax and be with family and community.
Image: Jewish girl and mother cover eyes to recite Shabbat blessing. Source: Canva.com
The Yearly Pause
Annual festivals are ubiquitous in religions but some are especially geared towards the notion of stopping to reflect. Our Jewish friends again exemplify this on Rosh Hashanah, the new year holiday, where they practice taslich, the casting of bread or stones into moving water to symbolize things you wish to cast off from your life and separate yourself from going forward.
This has resonances with the Holika Dahan of Hinduism, the night before Holi, where Hindus put things into a fire for the same reason – to indicate habits, vices, or perhaps guilt or mental burdens that they wish to rid their life of and to begin again. Diwali too contains this spirit as devotees clean their homes in preparation for a new start. Pausing and renewal are often paired as we deliberate interrupt our normal routine partly to reflect on how we are living, and how our lives might be altered or made better.
Image: Holika Dahan – a Hindu festival marked by lighting a large bonfire the night before Holi. Source: Canva.com
Sometimes whole periods of time are dedicated this way. The Christian practice of Lent is a 40 day period where many Christians abstain from something they usually do – anything from eating chocolate to gaming to swearing. It is often paired with extra Church attendance and donating to the needy. Cumulatively it is a practice of stopping, reflecting on one’s life, and trying to re-establish different routines with different priorities.
Ramadan works similarly. Muslims’ ordinary life is disrupted by all-day fasting for a month coupled with practices like frequent mosque visits and gathering every evening for iftar (the meal that breaks the fast). During the month, devotional activities like reading the Qur’an or listening to it being recited, are increased, and many make significant donations to charity as one’s hunger reminds us of those who are hungry often.
And perhaps an especially noticeable pause are meditation retreats. Buddhist retreats pull us away from almost all activity and sometimes all socialization for several days to sit, watch our breath, observe our thoughts, and try to gain clarity over our mind and our lives.
The Daily Pause
Many traditions advocate for a daily practice to center ourselves. Many Hindus begin their day with darshan whereby – often upon waking – one visits a household shrine to greet an image of the deity. This is part of a larger religious practice of offering food, flowers, incense, and then often engaging in chant, meditation, or perhaps prostrations. We somewhat begin the day, sometimes before breakfast or a shower, with an inserted pause to remember what’s central. This practice might be repeated at the end of the day.
Daily prayer of course is common in innumerable traditions. Some devout Christians take a moment before every meal to give thanks, injecting gratitude into one’s day and the practice of eating.
Prayer doesn’t have to be once a day. Orthodox Jews stop to pray three times daily and many Muslims pray five times day. Many Muslim prayers are preceded by ablutions where one somewhat literally but certainly metaphorically washes away the grime of our day. As the prayer begins, Muslims make a motion lifting both hands up beside the ears and gesturing backwards in what many interpret as partly a deliberate casting away of the world (pushing our concerns, our frustrations, etc. behind us) to focus on God. Your day might be stressful but you interrupt that busyness here and deliberately push it all aside.
Muslims begin prayer by pushing aside the day’s concerns, pausing to focus on God. Source: Canva.com
Sometimes the pause is worked into clothing or sacred objects. Khalsa Sikhs put on a turban every day and carry five items that interrupt the ordinary practice of dressing to emphasize what should be central. Jews have mezuzahs on their doorposts to interrupt your movements as you enter and leave rooms and buildings causing you, for a moment, to consider your focus.
Some North American Indigenous communities have vision quests where one leaves one’s community, one’s regular routine, sometimes even leaving clothes behind to go off alone and commune with the spirits. In some communities, this practice can be so consequential, effecting such a change in the person, that they may take on a different name.
And of course, many Buddhists meditate daily. In meditation, one does not do anything. You stop and alertly, patiently, and gently, just watch the self. The quieting of the mind is restorative but hopefully it is more than merely restful, becoming a practice that generates insight and understanding, allowing one to embrace ordinary life with more wisdom and compassion.
Source: Canva.com
The Attention Game
One of modern life’s defining features is that our attention has more pulls on it than any of our ancestors could have imagined. That device in one’s pocket offers endless videos, articles, games, ways to improve your chess game, your French language skills, and so much more. Even what might once be dead time waiting at a bus stop is now occupied both by the phone in our hands and the endless video screens along our streets and staring at you as you await your meal in most restaurants. The stimulation can be exhausting.
Religions have, for millennia, injected pauses into our days, our weeks, and our years. Time to stop, to reconsider, to reflect and perhaps reorient our selves and our attention to what matters.
We hope you have a chance today, and this week, and this season to take time to pause, to rest, and to reflect.
