Summary Of The Sacred And The Profane

Anisah Pillay
Religion 111
Professor Lindsay Grass
Writing Assignment 3 Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion aims to differentiate between the two modes of being in the world as well as describe how religious people experience the sacred. The introduction of the book offers little insight into what exactly the sacred and the profane are. Eliade merely asserts that the sacred is the opposite of the profane and something wholly different from the profane. This leaves the reader with only a basic understanding of the two modes and the idea that the sacred is something transcendent that could manifest itself within our midst. This is known as hierphany which becomes the basis to an understanding of the sacred. In addition to these viewpoints, Eliade also introduces the idea of the religious and non-religious man. It is within the religious man that Eliade believes the idea of the sacred and profane are mainly found. For the religious person, space is determined as either sacred or profane. This makes up the basis of the first chapter entitled “Sacred Space and Making
the World Sacred”. Eliade states in this chapter that sacred space is “a strong, significant space” that is not homogeneous due to the interruptions and breaks within it (Eliade 20). While on the other hand, we have profane space which is described as homogenous and neutral (Eliade 22). This space has no structure or consistency which is what makes it profane. It is an unknown territory and outside of our realm of understanding which is why it is often times referred to as chaos. Sacred space, on the other hand, is known as cosmos because of its order and fixed point around the center of the world. The reality in a sacred world is absolute and objective while in a profane world, reality is subjective and relative. This appeals to the non-religious man who will reject all sacrality in the world and only accept the profane space or realm of non-being. Therefore, the world for a non-religious man is uniform while the religious man sees the world in two ways, places that are sacred and places that are profane. It is because of this that the religious man desires to live in a pure and holy cosmos and as close to the center of the world as possible. For it is at the center that the religious man believes the universe originated from and where communication with the gods and supraterrestrial world is possible (Eliade 44). This center of the world is also known as an axis mundi or the connection between Earth and Heaven. The concept of an axis mundi relates to Lame Deer’s vision quest, specifically with his communication with the supraterrestrial. “This communication is [often times] expressed through the image of a universal pillar which at once connects and supports heaven and earth and whose base is fixed in the world below” (Eliade 36). To each person, the axis mundi can be depicted and expressed as a different image. While the universal pillar is the most common form, people like the Achilpa’s of the nomadic Australian tribe, carried around a sacred pole that they believed was an expression of the axis mundi. For Lame Deer, he had a gourd that contained forty pieces of his grandmother’s flesh. According to Lame Deer, the gourd helped him pray and be strong hearted. Therefore, the gourd acted like an axis mundi because it helped Lame Deer communicate with the supraterrestrial so he could receive his vision. All the supraterrestrial, including gods, superhuman forces and beings, reside in the sky. The sky, which is infinite and transcendent, is deemed the “most high” due to its attribute of divinity (Eliade 118). It can be seen from this that the region in the sky is only for the gods and is inaccessible to man. Therefore, the axis mundi serves as a way for man to communicate with the beings in the sky. Lame Deer uses his form of an axis mundi, the gourd, to help him pray and communicate with the spirits in order to obtain his vision. Straying away from the sacredness of space and time, Eliade now focuses on the sacredness of nature in his third chapter entitled “The Sacredness of Nature and Cosmic Religion”. For the religious man, everything in nature is a symbol and a manifestation of the gods. “Nature is never only natural; it is always fraught with a religious value” (Eliade 116). For example, the sky, water, earth, fire and body are some of the main symbols and representations that Eliade discusses. These symbols, while they are universal, are taught differently and have different meanings in each religion. In other words, water is a symbol that may be represented more or have more meaning in one religion then it does for another. In the Christian religion, for example, water is a symbol for purification and cleansing. This can be seen through the fact that water is used in baptisms where a person is being cleansed and reborn to enter the religion. In other religions, water is seen as a reservoir of possibilities and can symbolizes death or rebirth. It is also often times seen as washing away one’s sins and representing mortality because of the fact that water itself never dies. In Lame Deer’s Alone On A Hilltop, water is represented in the sweat lodge that Lame Deer has to enter before his vision seeking. The sweat bath’s purpose is to purify Lame Deer and empty his brain for new insights in order to prepare him for his vision quest. Chest, the medicine man that brought Lame Deer to the hilltop, along with 3 other medicine men, accompanied Lame Deer in the lodge. They poured water over red hot stones located in the center of the lodge in order to create steam. This sweat bath is what now purifies Lame Deer. Therefore, it can be seen from this that water in nature is a symbol of purification and cleansing. Throughout his vision quest, Lame Deer goes on to encounter other symbols in nature, such as the sky, earth, fire and body. The sky, according to Eliade, is a representation of the “most high”. This is due to the fact that it shows itself to be infinite, transcendent and “wholly other” (Eliade 118). In other words, the sky is where the gods reside along with other superhuman beings. It is inaccessible to men which is what makes the region “wholly other”. When man is in need or in trouble, he will call upon the celestial gods and in extreme cases, the creator himself. Communication with the sky is represented in Lame Deer’s vision quest as Lame Deer looks to the spirits for his vision. It is only the “most high” that can give Lame Deer his vision and when he prays to them, he looks up to the sky where they reside with the rest of the superhuman forces and beings. The next symbol in nature discussed by Eliade is Earth. Earth is not only the location for the source of life and agriculture but where the sense of belonging in a sacred place is. During his vision quest, Lame Deer resides in a hole alone on a hilltop. This hole acts as a sacred place as it is where Lame Deer has to pray to the spirits in order to receive his vision. The hilltop was chosen by the Elders solely because of its sacredness in nature. Therefore, we can see from this how the sacredness of the location aided in Lame Deer’s vision quest.
Fire is the next symbol that Eliade discusses and is one that shares a common characteristic with water. Both fire and water act as a purification agent but their methods of purifying are different. Fire chooses to destroy in order to cleanse something or someone. In other words, it burns away the old in order to create something new. The stones in the sweat bath that Lame Deer enters is one representation of this. We already know that the purpose of the sweat lodge is to purify Lame Deer and prepare him for his vision quest but now we know that it is the water and fire that act as the agents of purification. Another example of how fire is represented in Lame Deer’s vision quest is with the peace pipe that Chest leaves him with. Lame Deer describes the pipe as something that gave him power and helped him get rid of his fears. According to Lame Deer, “[The] smoke from the peace pipe goes straight up to the spirit world” (Deer 2). Through this, Lame Deer no longer felt alone but knew that he had his forefathers and the spirits with him. The smoke from the pipe represents not only fire but how it is used as a tool to purify and bring about power.
Lastly, the symbol of the body in nature relates to the cosmos as the parts of the body are representations of the various parts of the cosmos.
For example, Eliade states that the heart is the fixed center of the world while the backbone is the axis mundi that routes us in the world. He also goes on to assimilate the belly/the womb to a cave, the intestines to a labyrinth, breathing to the wind and the veins and arteries to the sun and the moon (Eliade 169). This relates to Lame Deer’s vision quest as the cave that Lame Deer resides in is a representation of the womb. The symbol of the womb is a symbol of birth and life as well as safety. Lame Deer goes into the cave in order to be reborn as a medicine man, much like new life is born out of a womb. Therefore, it can be seen from this how the symbol of the body is represented in Lame Deer’s vision
quest.
In conclusion, throughout his book The Sacred and The Profane, Eliade discusses the sacredness of space, time and nature and how this sacred reality is able to manifest itself in our midst. This act of manifestation of the sacred is known as hierphany. Hierphany can either be elementary, where the sacred manifests itself through objects such as stones or trees, or supreme, as in the case of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ (Eliade 11). Lame Deer’s Alone On A Hilltop contains many examples of hierphany as Lame Deer himself explains how the spirits can show themselves through an animal or tree or even the hill itself. Natural objects are often believed to be revelations of the sacred and one way that the religious man can worship the gods. Nature, including the sky, water, earth, fire and body are given religious meaning and symbols which is why it is so heavily significant in religions. These sacred symbols are constantly represented throughout Lame Deer’s Alone On A Hilltop, whether it is through the water in the sweat lodge or the fire in the peace pipe, it is what ultimately aids him in his vision quest.