The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion

Lit. “Axis of the Earth.” The term denotes a singular structure upon which all the cosmos is yoked, often symbolized by sacred poles, pillars, trees or mountains at the center of the earth. Yggdrasil, the world tree of Norse mythology, is an example of an axis mundi.

Lit. “Birth of the Cosmos.” Cosmogony refers to any individual myth of the world’s creation, such as the one recorded in the Book of Genesis. Eliade argues that rituals of land formation “always” (32) recapitulate the relevant culture’s cosmogony.

The cosmos refers to the entirety of reality as made ordered and unified by the creative deity or force. It is the opposite of chaos.

Lit. “departed gods.” An archetype in several religions, this term refers to the narrative construct of a singular supreme deity who creates all things, including lesser gods, and then retreats to an inactive position as an overseer within the sky. Eliade suggests this concept is a foundation for the eventual elaboration of monotheism.

The philosophical concept, emerging originally in antiquity, that all of existence is repeating in exactly the same formulation, and will continue to repeat for all of eternity. Eliade describes this as the religious notion of the fundamentally cyclical nature of the cosmos which, when robbed of its sacrality, becomes a nihilistic horror.

Lit. “Sacred marriage.” Hierogamy refers to a sexual union or marriage, enacting the ideal of a union between a male fecundator and a female earth deity to ensure the health of crops.

Lit. “Revelation of the sacred.” Hierophany is a manifestation of the divine through a sign or experience. For example, the burning bush in the Moses narrative, as well as the plagues sent to Egypt, are hierophanies.

Lit. “religious man.” Homo religiosus refers to the concept of an ideally religious person which Eliade uses to explore universal concepts in religion. Eliade invents this “species” to illustrate the concept that humanity is naturally and inherently religious. Throughout the text, it becomes an equivalent for the religious person living in a religious society undisturbed by the processes of secularization.

Lit. “Image of the Earth.” The term refers to a microcosmic image of the cosmos as it is perceived in a religious ontology. A house, built around a central pillar (axis mundi) and adherent to a cardinal directions structure is an example of an imago mundi. A city with the temple at the center is another example. These structures assure religious people of the continuity between their lives and sacred structures and spaces.

Lit. “Imitation of the god.” The term refers to the human imitation of the acts of the gods as recorded in myth, such as planting foods in the manner prescribed by mythic stories of the origin of agriculture, or sacrificing in the way gods prescribe sacrifice.

Lit. “In that time.” This phrase is an equivalent to the statement “In the beginning” which initiates the Book of Genesis. Eliade uses this term to indicate when events are perceived to occur in mythic times, particularly during the cosmogony. Festivals transmit human action back into this time.

The profane refers to all aspects of life which dwell outside of the domain of the sacred, but which can be brought under the umbrella of the sacred through ritual or other religious transformations.

The sacred refers to all things connected with divine or transcendent reality. For the religious person, sacred objects, events, and ideas are of ultimate value, are perceived as unchanged by the vicissitudes of Earthly life, provide the fundamental orientation for proper human action, and must be observed with respect.

Not equivalent to profane, the secular refers to the conditions of modern life in which the sacred is not an observable dimension of human experience, and so no concept of the sacred, profane, or their conceptual divide truly exists.