ABSTRACT
Apart from those second-order form rituals, myths are of great relevance for the functioning of second-order forms. This chapter focuses upon myth and rituals, as part of the very functioning of second-order forms. An interesting approach to rituals that serves especially for the analysis of contemporary second-order form rituals comes from Catherine Bell. Through diverse rituals of faithfulness, societies' members can partake in and demonstrate their faithfulness in different moments and places. The consequent transformation from a world of enchanted transcendence to a world of authentic immanence resulted from a shift in the structure of special social forms, which in the case of second-order forms must be understood as a shift from faithfulness to love, wherein, however, faithfulness became transformed into authenticity. Second-order form rituals always change in content, form and meaning when a period of predomination of one second-order form is over, thereby making space for another second-order form. In almost all myths of love, there appear love rituals.
