The Sacred and the Profane - Four Key Terms
Owen of the Sun Riders
I studied this work of Eliade’s a few years ago, I do not remember every detail, but four of the core ideas really resonated with me and furthered my understanding of religious concepts. The four terms I think all of us should have a grasp on are as follows:
Homo Religiosus
A religious leader, an experienced religious person, or the ideal religious person.
The Sacred
‘Whatever the historical context in which he is placed, homo religiosus believes that there is an absolute reality, the sacred, which transcends this world but manifests itself in this world, thereby sanctifying it and making it real.’
The sacred is usually different in terms of space. Temples and altars are usually in the middle of towns/buildings, as well as being on higher elevations. When a sacred object appears, or a place is made sacred, it becomes a center that creates a sacred order around it.
Defining the sacred is a particularly difficult thing to do. My simple definition is anything that is connected to a deity, spirit, or the ancestors. It could be a place, an object, or an act, or the deities/spirits/ancestors themselves.
The Profane
The profane is simply anything that is non-sacred, all things fit into this dichotomy.
Hierophany
‘Man becomes aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, shows itself, as something wholly different from the profane. To designate the act of manifestation of the sacred, we have proposed the term hierophany. It is a fitting term, because it does not imply anything further; it expresses no more than is implicit in its etymological content, i.e., that something sacred shows itself to us. It could be said that the history of religion – from the most primitive to the most highly developed – is constituted by a great number of heirophanies, by manifestations of sacred realities. From the most elementary hierophant – e.g. manifestation of the sacred in some ordinary object, a stone or a tree - to the supreme heirophany, there is no solution of continuity. In each case we are confronted by the same mysterious act – the manifestation of something of a wholly different order, a reality that does not belong to our world, in objects that are an integral part of our natural "profane" world’ (Eliade). – Put simply, a heirophany is a manifestation of the sacred.
All rituals and practices should be within a sacred context, within a sacred space. Experiencing the sacred is what can lead us to a heirophany. Those who have experienced heirophanies, then become homo religiosus.