Accordingly, it is
assigned a privileged position in the hierarchy of the many sign
systems in use. Memetic replication appropriately describes the
evolution of religious ideas, but not necessarily how these
ideas are shaped by the pragmatic framework.
Tablets, scrolls, and books are blueprints for effective
self-constitution within a community of people sharing an
understanding of rules for efficient experiences. The outcome is
guaranteed by the implicit contract of those self-constituted as
believers in the supernatural from which the rules supposedly
emanate. In search of authority, this world settled for unifying
motivations. The rules of animal, and sometimes even human,
sacrifice, and those of religious offerings were based on the
pragmatics of maintaining optimal productivity (of herds, trees,
soil), of entering agreements, maintaining property,
redistributing wealth, and endowing offspring. The immediate
meaning of some of the commitments made became obscured over
time as scale changed and the association to nature weakened.
The rules were subsequently associated with metaphysical
requirements, or simply appropriated by culture in the form of
tradition. To ensure that each individual partook in the
well-being of the community, punishments were established for
those violating a religious rule. Immediate punishment and,
later, eternal punishment, although not in all religions, went
hand in hand as deterrents.
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