Good morning pubski. It's Yom Kippur in the Jewish calendar and those inclined towards hunger, self-reflection, and repentance have until sundown. Religious observances offer the possibility of transcendence, community, and connection to the Great Oneness to whom prayerful people pray. mivasairski says that humans have real indescribable experiences of transporting awe; religions and rituals were created to help people understand and replicate those experiences. However, he says, if you learn to feel awe, wonder, gratefulness and oneness with all of creation, you no longer need the weight of religion. I do like rituals. There might be fasting.
I like rituals too. I grew up going to catholic mass. As an adult, people have invited me to their "rock and roll" born again churches, thinking I would love it cause they have a "drum set" and a fog machine. -nope. Give me a pipe organ and a choir. I like keeping my rock and roll and my Jesus separate. I dig the ritual of a catholic mass. I'm not catholic, I don't go to church, but if I did go to church, I would want it to be steeped in tradition.
I'm the same! My grandmother used to sneak me off to midnight mass on Christmas Eve (my mother - her daughter - is a staunch atheist) and it was magical to me. Partly this was due, presumably, to the feeling of illicitness, but also all that gold and pomp and ceremony and incense and chiaroscuro and Latin. I'm working on a VR movie at the moment, and it's hard to create such an immersive experience. The Vatican is really onto something...