We suggest you turn to the Tao Teh Ching:
38. Ritual Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted; Closely held beliefs are not easily released; So ritual enthralls generation after generation. Harmony does not care for harmony, and so is naturally attained; But ritual is intent upon harmony, and so can not attain it. Harmony neither acts nor reasons; Love acts, but without reason; Justice acts to serve reason; But ritual acts to enforce reason. When the Way is lost, there remains harmony; When harmony is lost, there remains love; When love is lost, there remains justice; But when justice is lost, there remains ritual. Ritual is the end of compassion and honesty, The beginning of confusion; Belief is a colourful hope or fear, The beginning of folly. The sage goes by harmony, not by hope; He dwells in the fruit, not the flower; He accepts substance, and ignores abstraction. -- tr. P. Merel