My imprecision was further up in the paragraph, actually. I should have said that a ritual, in the ceremonial or religious sense, is done for some symbolic purpose. The purpose of the procession of the faculty at a graduation ceremony is not merely to accomplish getting the faculty members’ asses in their seats. The purpose of the wafer and wine of the Eucharist at a Catholic church is not at all as a light snack. But the purpose of deleting emails is merely to have rid of them. On the other hand, I suppose there’s got to be some techno-pagan out there who ceremonially empties her spam folder as part of a ritual of banishment …
My imprecision was further up in the paragraph, actually. I should have said that a ritual, in the ceremonial or religious sense, is done for some symbolic purpose. The purpose of the procession of the faculty at a graduation ceremony is not merely to accomplish getting the faculty members’ asses in their seats. The purpose of the wafer and wine of the Eucharist at a Catholic church is not at all as a light snack. But the purpose of deleting emails is merely to have rid of them. On the other hand, I suppose there’s got to be some techno-pagan out there who ceremonially empties her spam folder as part of a ritual of banishment …