A lot of folks talked on their blogs about the rote repetition of "under God" yielding a meaninglessness. It's something I find interesting. I can think of a number of instances in religions when repetition of a phrase or text is meant to impart some kind of different meaning; I think of Sufis reciting the name of God, or Catholics reciting particular prescribed prayers, and what have you.

When I was training to be a Won Buddhist minister, I began memorizing their particular scripture. I was deeply amazed about what I would learn after writing the passage again and again and again; new insight, new thoughts would come up after spending half an hour with the same couple hundred words. Even the Heart Sutra, which doesn't seem to make an ounce of sense, after quite a lot of repetition, began to yield all kinds of different insights.

I think, though, a lot of it comes down to how the repetition is occurring. Are you putting your mind towards the object of repetition, or drifting off into some mindless state? Is it something that you unconsciously recite, or is the full attention paid to this particular thing? Wouldn't it be a different story if we were to really mean it when we said the pledge of allegiance, as I'm sure it does for some people? I would assume that for some people, it really is a pledge of allegiance; they really do give their mind, heart, and body to their country. And I would assume that has some benefits and sacrifices. What if we read the Declaration of Independence every morning right when we woke up? What insights would we find there? How would it change our daily lives? I guess these are questions that come from my own spiritual practice, but I think it's worth noting that repetition doesn't have to be rote; it can actually strengthen an individual in faith and in insight.