At no time did there exist an organized authority which could formulate standards of faith or dictate the usages of religious etiquette. Ritual, seeking that which in matter and manner was believed to be well pleasing to the gods, followed the traditions of the individual shrines, and there were no better theologians than the poets. Dogmas there were none. In contrast with the religious experience of a land like India, Greece stands at the extreme. There re ligion was imposed as a system from With out, here it sprang as a social and civic impulse from within.