meal should also be flawless, and no one should sniff them as that
would probably pollute them.^11OBSESSIVE RULES
What psychological capacities are involved in all this? Rituals are not
like ordinary behavior. They seem much closer to the automatic and
compelling actions endlessly and pointlessly performed by individuals
with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). These people feel for
[238] instance a compulsion to wash their hands hundreds of times a day, or
to check several dozen times that they locked their door, or to per-
form complicated sequences of meaningless actions before they start
the day. Many afflicted with OCD realize how irrational their com-
pulsion is. But they also feel that they cannot help it. It is quite
beyond them to stop doing all this. Indeed, the very thought of not
carrying out the exact sequence can fill them with anguish.^12
Many authors have noted the similarities between this condition
and ritual performance, but it was very difficult to draw any conclu-
sions from the parallel. Some described ritual as a form of collective
obsession, and others saw obsession as a private religious ritual. Nei-
ther view made much sense, since very little was known about the
mental processes involved in these two kinds of repeated and compul-
sory sequences. What had motivated this comparison was the presence
in both situations of actions that make little practical sense but that
must be performed, as well as the repetition of similar actions over
time. Most anthropologists concluded that such similar features may
well be a coincidence.
Then anthropologist Alan Fiske reopened this question, showing
that the similarities between ritual and obsessive-compulsive behavior
are deeper than mere repetition of nonpractical actions. Beyond this,
we can also find a striking similarity in the concepts and emotional
states activated. Comparing hundreds of ritual sequences with clinical
descriptions of OCD cases, Fiske showed that the same themes recur
over and over again in both domains. Indeed, Fiske's list of common
themes in rituals could be used as a clinical description of the common
obsessions experienced by those with OCD. In both situations, people
are concerned with purity and pollution; pollution can be averted by
performing particular actions; there is often no clear representation of
why these particular actions should have that result; the actions consist
RELIGION EXPLAINED