Presocratic Philosophy: Sacred And Profane

Many presocratic philosophers pondered with questions over the fundamental nature of the cosmos, or creation of the universe. Eliade separated time and space into sacred and profane. He believed the sacredness of nature comes from four principles: celestial symbols, water, earth, and trees. Presocratic philosopher, Anaximander believed the world was cylindrical and that the first creations of the world were through a drop of water. Beyond that humans were created from animals of a different time. The two-presocratic philosophers had different approaches to the creation of the cosmos, but also held similar ideas within their beliefs.

In Eliade’s, The Sacred and the Profane, he says that illud tempus refers to the time of origin when the universe was created. Eliade states, “The, cosmos in its entirety can become a hierophany.”(pg. 12,Eliade) Eliade linked a lot of his arguments about the cosmos to religion. A hierophany reveals a fixed point, a center when no orientation can be established in infinite space. It is an interception of the sacred and the profane. He argued the difference between the sacred and the profane: the sacred being order; profane being chaos. Within the sacred and profane comes time and space: two important factors within his view of the cosmos. Sacred space has spiritual significance and connects one with “another world” or a “higher power”. He said that the axis mundi, such as sacred objects like a stick or pole, links …show more content…
Eliade argues, “Every sacred space implies a hierophany, an irruption of the sacred that results in detaching a territory from the surrounding cosmic milieu and making it qualitatively different.” (pg.26, Eliade) Eliade is saying that sacred space is a break from the profane space. Humans want order, not chaos, which is why he says that sacred space, gives meaning, value and reality. He says that there is a human dependence upon the higher powers because it fills the gaps that others