The Sacred and The Profane

The “Sacred and the Profane” by Mircea Eliade, explores two innovative perspective of religion with aspects of the traditional and modern. Eliade draws principles such as heterogeneous in space based on experiencing the world as sacred. On the contrary, the homogenous man is blocked to these sacred experiences, since the world is experienced as profane. Additionally, Eliade discusses the alignment in space allowing the manifestation of the sacred—hierophany. This is the most fundamental concept that I believe is the main focus for Eliade, this concept of transcendence, as well as space including the cosmos.

Eliade discusses humanistic principles of religion while providing a connection to traditional religion, explaining the concept of “sacred” and drawing a connection to time, space, and nature. They serve a purposeful function in rituals and practices presented by the various religions, both traditional and modern. This “re-enactment” of rituals or practices in various religions that people conduct provides them a sense of “reality,” while establishing a mystic bond. As a result, the experience of space known to non-religious man, one who rejects sacrality of the world, accepts only a profane existence.

I believe Eliade is simply pointing out that in order to be real in a space whether religious or non-religious, there is something much more grand at play—the cosmos. For the sacred our world is symbolic, it serves as a plane in which man lives to complete a spiritual re-birth (hierophany). Therefore, cosmogony is “repeated” and the rituals take place in this sacred space. It is important to trail the ideas presented by Eliade, since it provides us a way to maintain worship to restore the mystic bond between man and God. Note t...

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...deas discussed by Eliade; rituals are conducted to “re-establish” the bond between man and God to transcend. In addition, daily worship reminds man of God, as well as God’s power through the act of submission, also evident in Islam as well. Muslims as they pray perform sequential procedures reenact acts of submission to God, involving kneeling and bowing down to God. Therefore, a religious person’s life must include this re-enactment of rituals to worship God, displaying devotion. As a result the more religious you are, the higher you transcend to the next plane—transcending to reach heaven. Revolving life around God and submitting to higher external power is necessary for worship. Though, having a sacred space to perform prayer is equally as important, since it serves as a nucleus in space-time that is linked to something far more complex beyond our rational.