“Though normally the handshake simply confirmed the trustworthiness of an agreement, with perhaps an aura of divine protection, Attic grave reliefs suggest a further extension of the idea for they "show handshaking as a symbol of Faith at the parting between the dead and the living. Thus, handshaking was not only a sign of agreement among the living, but the gesture of trust and faith in the supreme departure." With us the handshake is hardly a conscious gesture, but nonetheless one does not expect to be attacked by someone with whom one has just shaken hands. A refusal of a proffered handshake, however, would make the ritual gesture conscious indeed: breaking the ritual raises ominous questions that would require an explanation.” SocietyTrustMoralityCivilizationRitualCognitionHuman Species Book:Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age Source: Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age
“While the culture of manager and therapist does not speak in the language of traditional moralities, it nonetheless proffers a normative order of life, with character ideals, images of the good life, and methods of attaining it. Yet it is an understanding of life generally hostile to older ideas of moral order. Its center is the autonomous individual, presumed able to choose the roles he wil play and the commitments he will make, not on the basis of higher truths but according to the criterion of life-effectiveness as the individual judges it.” ReligionSocietyMoralityTraditionSocial ScienceManagerTherapistCivil ReligionManagerial Society Book:Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life Source: Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life