To formulate a ritual system, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the various factors of psychology, religious ritual, and neuroscience to ensure that it guides believers to achieve spiritual sublimation through self-denial and atonement, while rationally evaluating its impact on personal decision-making ability. The following is a step-by-step framework： --- ### **1. Basic principles of ceremony design** -**Symbolism and repeatability**: The ceremony must contain strong symbolic elements (such as water, fire, confession, etc.), and strengthen psychological cues through repetitive movements. -**Progressive challenge**: Gradually transition from mild self-denial (such as short-term fasting) to higher difficulties (such as long-term spiritual practice) to avoid psychological trauma caused by extreme behaviors. -**Community resonance**: Group participation (such as collective confession) can enhance a sense of belonging and amplify the effect of rituals through social identity. --- ### **2. Examples of specific ritual structure** ####**Stage 1: Purification and stripping** -**Abstinence practice**: Periodic abstinence from material comforts (such as restricted diet, digital withdrawal). -**Meditation and repentance**: Self-critical meditation at a fixed time every day, record “sins” in writing and burn symbols of atonement. -**Ascetic rituals**: Gentle physical tests (such as cold baths and qibla) transform physical pain into a sense of moral purification. ####**Stage 2: Reconstruction and sublimation** -**Symbolic rebirth**: Symbolizes the demise of the old self through acts such as flooding and changing white clothes. -**Vision implantation**: In the climax stage after exhaustion or meditation, positive hints (such as “Your sacrifice has been revealed”) are guided by an authority. -**Service atonement**: Believers are required to participate in public welfare labor to transform guilt into social value. --- ### **3. Mechanism of influence on decision-making ability** ####**Potential benefits** -**Cognitive decoupling**: Self-denial may weaken the tendency to instant gratification and enhance the ability to delay gratification (support research: Baumeister's theory of self-control). -**Simplify decision-making**: Solidify the moral framework through rituals (such as “everyone who harms others is evil”) to reduce the cognitive load during decision-making. -**Risk aversion**: The sense of atonement may strengthen the ethics of responsibility and pay careful attention to high-risk behaviors. ####**Potential risks** -**Authority dependence**: Excessive dependence on ritual authority may lead to the degradation of autonomous judgment ability (Milgram experiment effect). - **Cognitive distortion**: Extreme self-denial may cause irrational guilt and distort cost-benefit analysis (such as pathological altruism). - **Behavioral polarization**: Rituals may solidify the logic of ”sacrifice=correctness", leading to the neglect of objective information in decision-making. --- ### **4. Balance suggestion** -**Introduction of rational anchors**: Set up a “questioning link” in the ceremony to encourage believers to reflect on the instrumental value of the ceremony. -**Quantitative evaluation**: Regularly use cognitive tests (such as cognitive game tasks) to monitor changes in decision-making patterns. -**Exit mechanism**: Allow phased exit without stigma, and prevent irrational persistence caused by sunk cost effects. --- ### **5. Ethical warning** Such rituals need to be strictly guarded against： -Mental exploitation of vulnerable individuals (such as using guilt to manipulate)； -Physical function impairment (such as affecting health due to excessive asceticism)； -Group polarization (strengthening the narrative of opposition between the enemy and the enemy through rituals). It is recommended to include an external ethical review in the design and give priority to gentle non-painful rituals (such as meditation instead of self-flagellation). If you need to further specialize a certain link (such as the impact of meditation at the neuroscience level), you can provide in-depth analysis.