Eliade 151-159 Summary
Eliade
claims that both the religious and nonreligious man have a similar experience
of nature. A religious man obviously will see nature as more than just the
natural world, and as something through which one can experience God. Although
the nonreligious man might not use this religious language to describe their
own experience of nature, Eliade claims that they also experience nature as
something more than just the natural world. Nonreligious man through nature
experiences something larger and more paradisal than his own being. Eliade uses
the Chinese as an example, talking of how Taoists created "little
paradises" which they could use as a visual representation of paradise.
They used nature by creating small pots with little trees and similar pieces of
nature to represent something much bigger, and much a better, "a world
apart," a window to see into paradise. This example is used to illustrate
the idea that all people, while some may make nature less, do not seem able to
completely desacralize it. According to Eliade nature always points to
something bigger.
Eliade
expands his thesis through more examples of the moon and a stone. Eliade claims
that through these manifestations of nature something is revealed to man that
is bigger than himself. Eliade emphasizes time and time again that complete
secularization of nature is a fact or experience that is only true for a very
limited amount of people.
Elise Cranston, Max Harris, Shelby Riddle
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