ABSTRACT
W e have not, then, gone far enough in to Jacobinism i f we stop w i t h i ts r i t u a l . There is t ha t t r i t e phrase about "empty r i t u a l " which should give us a clew. A t the very lowest, a human being who makes certain gestures or recites certain words of a r i t u a l hopes thereby to gain something. Scoundrels may go through a r i t u a l better to disguise their real aims; b u t to assume a l l or most of the Jacobins to have been scoundrels is to overestimate human enterprise. Cowards may go through w i t h a r i t u a l to conform to what the ma jo r i t y does; b u t we s t i l l have the ma jo r i ty left . M e n may go through w i t h a r i t u a l ou t of mere habi t , at least for a t i m e ; b u t the Jacobins were innovators, and their r i t u a l had no chance to harden in to habi t . Now, no r i t u a l can be i n itself emp ty ; i f neither hypocrisy, nor cowardice, nor hab i t make of a given r i t u a l a mechanical gesture, then th is r i t u a l must have meaning to the believer. Th i s meaning w i l l be his fa i th , his theology, his po l i t i ca l ideas. P u t i n the fo rm of a code, this fa i th w i l l discipline i ts holder as a member of the group; p u t as a description of rea l i ty above ordinary ex perience, and endowed w i t h a r i t ua l , th is fa i th w i l l satisfy the emotional longings of i ts holder.
