According to Durkheim the essence of religious life is always a pronounced separation of the domain of the sacred from that of the profane. The sacred is approached only with rituals and ceremonies, performed in prescribed places and according to prescribed forms. Failure to respect the observances is a profanation of the sacred, and is a serious offence requiring punishment or expiation. It is by these means that societies identify themselves and surround their moral and social lives with a structure that, although arbitrary, welds them together, affirming the power of collective life over that of the individual.