First Reading
Eliade’s first reading highlights religion’s symbolic nature and why certain symbols are termed as sacred across different faiths. Individuals from diverse backgrounds have opinions that differ concerning the holy nature of religion. Because people have other cultural practices, individuals can’t view sacred things from the same angle. Religion has adopted the use of symbolism, whereby different religions use different symbols in their religious practices. The meaning of a sacred thing varies across religions depending on the other cultural practices. It is only by understanding the importance of religious symbols that one can comprehend the process of enrichment (Eliade & Kitagawa, 1959). When a sign is termed as sacred, it means that the culture that terms such symbols as sacred have a reason that can only be explained by the specific culture. Sacred symbols have a deep-rooted history within the communities that hold such symbols. Therefore, people from different cultures and religious practices can’t view the same symbols as sacred things. For instance, some organizations view a particular tree as sacred due to such communities’ cultural ways that others could not understand unless they take the initiative to go deeper into such cultures’ souls.
Symbolism is a widely used attribute in almost all religious practices. It can be possible to term certain spiritual practices as sacred due to the symbols involved in such ways. However, such religious symbols could only be relevant to the specific communities as other people could not view such practices as sacred. The different interpretation of religious symbols across communities is why people cannot view symbols’ sacred traditions in the same manner. Certain religious behaviors such as orientation are termed as sacred by the organizations that believe in such practice. However, this does not justify such behaviors to be sacred as it can only apply to a small group of people who derive and value such practices from their life experiences. Not everyone can agree with certain practices such as orientation to be sacred unless they dive deep into the foundation of such practices (Eliade & Kitagawa, 1959). Religious symbols deemed sacred must point out to something real and structural in the world. The power and meaning of a symbolic practice are good enough to term such practices as sacred. For instance, communities that create their gods or other supernatural beings and term them as sacred do so because of the structure of the world in which they live. Such symbols could bear sacred meanings that are divine according to the symbols that they represent. The sacred nature of a practice or a mere symbol is deeply rooted in the people who symbolize such practices as sacred. A sacred symbol translates the situation of the individuals within the community in cosmological terms (Eliade & Kitagawa, 1959).
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Second Reading
In his second reading, Eliade highlights the symbolic nature of time and how certain events are held to be sacred due to the unique historical times in which such events took place. The Indian culture is one that is dominated by myths both in religion and cultural practices. Such myths are only significant depending on the time when they took place, and such times are different from the standard times because it is in the past which no longer exists. Myths have their relevance related to the sacredness of the time in which they occur, and this makes it impossible for such myths to any time or in any manner, but the time must be specific as it is a sacred time (Eliade, 1957). The symbolic representation of a myth, which is time, makes the time when such myths took place as a sacred time. The Indians find time to be a symbol of sacredness only when a unique event occurs during a specific time.
The symbolic nature of time, which makes it possible for some myths to be termed as sacred due to the specific time they occur, makes such myths unique symbols as they exist even with time. They represent a particular time in the past that continues to be celebrated into existence as such times still live in the present times. The main reason why myths are held as true in different cultures is the unique time they occurred and symbolizing sacred events and people. When individuals narrate or take time to listen to a myth, it means that such people have resumed their contact with the sacred time in history. The sacred nature of time varies depending on different cultures and the past events that they regard as sacred. The historical events that are considered by the Chinese culture as cultural are different from what the Europeans or Asians consider as cultural due to how the different communities view symbolic events differently.
In Indian culture, myths are only important symbolically due to the light they shed on the past events. Time is sacred only if it holds a memorable past event. The mythical time represented by historical events is different from any other time because of the continuous and irreversible nature of time. The time in which they existed no longer exists. Hindus, therefore, re-actualize sacred times by speaking about the events that occurred during such moments (Eliade, 1957). Such events are symbolic as they represent a particular time that can never re-occur. Additionally, it is not possible for a myth to be related to any time or in any manner that a person chooses. It must be associated with a specific time due to the sacred nature of the time when the event took place.
The author describes sacredness concerning the symbolic nature of the aspects that are termed as sacred. I agree with his thoughts because sacred events hold a unique attribute for myths of religious practices across different cultures.
References
Eliade, M., & Kitagawa, J. M.. (1959). The history of religions: Essays in methodology . University of Chicago Press.
Eliade, M. (1957). Time and eternity in Indian thought. Man and time , 3 , 173-200
