1. Competence: Sensible to archetypal form; possesses a developed aesthetic sense; graceful and decorous; keenly sensible to timing; master of the art of participation in sacred ritual; master of the art of ritual detail and the art of choreographing ritual action; thoroughly acquainted with and possesses a lively sense of and an ability to enter into and interpret the basic stories en symbols of the tradition.

2. Balance of finitude and infinitude:

Possessed of profound awe and reverence in the presence of the sacred as archetypal form while realistically appreciating the finite conditions of its lively mediation; freshly sensitive to archetypal patterns as transcendent to, though disclosed through, finite and familiar symbolic forms; re-appropriates timeworn forms with freshness and creative imagination; sensible to what is important and what is not; composed in the face of small crises that occasionally occur in the midst of sacred ritual.

3. Selflessness: Sincerely involved in sacred worship for its own sake; ready to enter fully into collective ritual activity for the sake of the group; open to being challenged and changed by participation in sacred ritual; humbly regards ritual status as service and as meriting no special recognition or advantage over others; ready to help the least participant enter fully into sacred worship.

1. Shadow side of competence: ready to treat all problems as calling for solution through participation in sacred ritual; tends to over-structure activities and events; overly conservative.

2. Incompetence: Insensible to archetypal form; lacking a developed aesthetic sense; un-cognizant of religious kitsch (religious art that manifests no genuine aesthetic sensibility); ignorant of basic stories and symbols of the tradition, lacking a lively sense of them, or unable to enter into and interpret them to others; ignorant of ritual properties; awkward, uncertain, or fumbling in ritual performance; prone to ritual mistakes and improprieties.

3. Imbalance: Loss of finitude: Idolatrous toward ritual form and symbol, where secondary symbols and ritual details are identified with sacred meaning as opposed to being its vehicle and mediator; absolutely closed-minded to considerations of creative variation or alternative ritual forms.

4. Imbalance: Loss of infinitude: Merely perfunctory or wooden in execution of ritual; preoccupied with ritual detail, or variation of ritual form, at expense of enabling participants’ access to the sacred archetypes; uncreative in repeating time-worn symbolic forms; insensible to the sacred in and through the symbols; lacking awe and reverence for the transcendent dimension of the sacred archetypal patterns; discomposed in the face of small crises in ritual detail.

5. Egoism: Making use of sacred rite, sacred symbols, or the prerogatives of ritual status to promote profane mundane interests, material advantages, or other egoistic interests, whether at the individual or community level; unwilling to enter fully and sincerely into the collective ritual activity of the group and be challenged and changed by it.