Rejecting the Ritual

When goodness is lost, there is morality.

When morality is lost, there is ritual.

Ritual is the husk of true faith, the beginning of chaos.

- Lao-Tzu

(Tao Te Ching 38)




And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men.

Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret;
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

- Matthew 6:5-6