On the Importance of Ritual in Human Psychology

What would a religion be without it's rituals and rites?

Of course, we can (and probably all have) laughed at them in the past, no matter which religion they're affiliated with, but something I have noticed over the years, especially with my formal training in both standard psychology as well as hypnotherapy and NLP (the validity of which I still toss around in my mind, but interesting nonetheless), is what appears to be a natural human inclination towards ritualistic behavior.

People and groups engage in rituals which bring them closer together, bring, on the whole, positive psychological benefits to those involved, and solidify a sense of purpose in one's life. Given this, I think it is safe to say that provided this dynamic is not used to harm or abuse others, they are a net positive, and depending on what one believes insofar as spirituality is concerned, may or may not actually mean something beyond the scope of just the individuals involved.

While nothing has been codified yet, it is something that I am working on, and something that I think should be had.