Natural Symbols

2

TO INNER EXPERIENCE

 

Those on the New Left who are in revolt against empty rituals do not readily see themselves walking in the footprints of Wycliffe and of ardent Protestant reformers. Yet if we can make the leap from small exotic cultures to our European religious tradition, we can make the easier transition between anti-ritualism in a secular and in a religious context. We are then able to see that alienation from the current social values usually takes a set form : a denunciation not only of irrelevant rituals, but of ritualism as such; exaltation of the inner experience and denigration of its standardised expressions; preference for intuitive and instant forms of knowledge; rejection of mediating institutions, rejection of any tendency ...