Quote:
Originally Posted by TimMason
Beliefs in the kinds of entities and ways of being that we lump together under the term 'transcendental', and the rituals and other behaviours that accompany those beliefs (or even, according to some accounts, precede them) are quite efficacious - particularly in building up group togetherness necessary for collective action of any kind. (If we are 'hard-wired' for anything, it is probably for the kinds of ritual complexes that involve song, dance and foot-stomping).
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Another thing we are hard-wired for is art. And that is another thing that has been intertwined with religion from the very beginning.
I'm interested in the possibility you mention, that rituals started before religion. Do you know what would support this hypothesis?