The treatment of ritual proposed here outlines multiple symbolic functions of ritual, which together serve to mark out a structure of historical time, space, and community. Patterns of ritual repetition, furthermore, bring performers' minds into regular contact with symbolized properties, thus influencing their concepts and sensibilities.

The focus on symbolic aspects is an act of abstraction. It must not be taken as denying the importance of the social functions of ritual, nor of the belief system that, in every case, provides its context and motivation. On the other hand, to abstract from such features in order to concentrate on the symbolism of rites draws special attention to their cognitive roles, that is, their roles in conceptualization and reference and, consequently, in shaping the mental sensibilities and habits of their participants.

THE DEVALUING OF RITUAL

The mere assignment of cognitive roles to rituals conflicts with its prevalent devaluation as a hindrance to spontaneous religious feeling. Thus, William James's Varieties of Religious Experience begins by dividing the religious domain into the institutional and the personal, proceeding thereafter “to ignore the institutional branch entirely.” The sort of religion in which James is himself interested gives rise, as he says, to “personal not ritual acts, the individual transacts the business by himself alone, and the ecclesiastical organization, with its priests and sacraments and other go-betweens, sinks to an altogether secondary place. The relation goes direct from heart to heart, from soul to soul, between man and his maker.”