On rituals.................................

     "If you're speaking of tribal societies in primitive cultures, weren't their rituals often based on fear and superstition?" asked Rob, a middle-school teacher.
     "Sometimes, but that's not what matters here.  Why they did it is not as important as the fact that they did it.  Their coming together reveals something essential for human life, even for all of us today.   It comes from here," he said, tapping his heart, "from the guts.  When you study history and human nature, when you look at how we human beings have always lived together, you see this need for familiar and recurring rituals, regular ceremonial and formal commemoration, which express, strengthen, and define the state of our relationships, our common ideals, our shared triumphs and griefs.  That's something we can't afford to forget, for it's just as true for us."

-The Monks of New Skete,  In the Spirit of Happiness