that the words of the prophets indeed came from God, or gods, or as a principle of immanent truth, or other establishments of the necessarily immutable terminal source of trust.

Within a theistic religion, policy emanates from the deity or deities that comprise the foundation of the religion. Alternatively, it comes from the same organizing process from which trust derives, in the case of non-theistic religions. In either case, this derivation of policy generally appears to take a very special person to establish the statements of policy under the auspices of the ultimate trust arbiter of the particular social ecosystem. We suggest, then, that this ultimate human policy purveyor is the shaman. In various religions, the policy purveyor is known by other names: prophet, lawgiver and the enlightened one. Mircea Eliade has made a seminal review of shamanistic practices in Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. In virtually every case related through anthropology or history, it appears to require the abilities of select, chosen ones to translate the rules given by the deities, or from the ordained process, into the compendium that other believers can access. One explanation would be that only the shaman’s ecstasy allows refinement of the trust infrastructure with the necessary detachment from the very policies that are effected by the change. Once the trust infrastructure is in place, its conveyance to policy can take place.

Ritual provides a direct connection to human emotions. Consequently, as an aesthetic facility it can bear directly on the conveyance of trust. Few of us have not felt the appeal of certain songs. Often we associate them with particular events or times in our lives, and to hear them over and over again still evokes something of that original feeling. This is, in essence, ritual in the small. Expand upon it a bit and you get the primitive exhilaration of a rock concert or the stirrings of patriotic fervor when the Marine Corps Band (The President’s Own) launches into Semper Fidelis. This comes closer to ritual in the large. Religion has proven exceedingly innovative in the use of such ritual to evoke a common emotional state among a group of believers. From the great chorales to Gregorian chants, the music of religion can instill a variety of emotional states in its listeners, states that make this audience particularly receptive to trust induced reception and acceptance of messages of many types; from a more abstract view, statements of policy. When properly applied, such emotional programming has similar characteristics to protocols as we have discussed them; protocols through which desired interactions can transpire.

An interaction can be characterized by a collection of protocols, each of which deals with a specific aspect of the interaction. Each protocol involves a series of well-defined steps with decision points interspersed along the way. By following the steps, one is led to the decision points. Each outcome from a decision point then points to a new set of steps which lead to the next decision point. With the outcome of the final decision point of the protocol, the protocol is completed and the interaction is in a known state. A more generic term for this concept of protocol is a ritual. Either a ritual or a protocol provides a process through which the parties to an interaction can establish a common state. If the resultant state is one of emotional ecstasy within the human mind, then it becomes an effective means of establishing or reinforcing trust originally derived from that state. As such, ritual becomes a powerful means for establishing or reinforcing trust within a group whose members engage in the ritual in some form of concert. Islam makes use of its Five Pillars that comprise a set of rituals through which the faithful maintain or renew their trust in the faith. Of these, Salah, the daily prayer that must be offered five times each day while bowing toward Mecca, is the most constant reminder of the moral code that should direct the actions of all believers. Meditation, mantras (words or formula), mudras (symbolic hand gestures), are forms of rituals found in eastern religions that are associated with ecstatic stages. In Maya Cosmos, David Friedel, Linda Schele and Joy Parker have shown remarkable continuity in the

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