38. Ritual
well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;
closely held beliefs are not easily released;
so ritual enthralls generation after generation. harmony does not care for harmony, and so is naturally attained;
but ritual is intent upon harmony, and so can not attain it.
harmony neither acts nor reasons;
love acts, but without reason;
justice acts to serve reason;
but ritual acts to enforce reason.
when the way is lost, there remains harmony;
when harmony is lost, there remains love;
when love is lost, there remains justice;
but when justice is lost, there remains ritual. ritual is the end of compassion and honesty,
the beginning of confusion;
belief is a colourful hope or fear,
the beginning of folly.
the sage goes by harmony, not by hope;
he dwells in the fruit, not the flower;
he accepts substance, and ignores abstraction.