The history of religions reaches down and makes contact with that which is essentially human: the relation of man to the sacred. The history of relig… - Mircea Eliade

The crises of modern man are to a large extent religious ones, insofar as they are an awakening of his awareness to an absence of meaning.

A religious symbol conveys its message even if it is no longer consciously understood in every part. For a symbol speaks to the whole human being and not only to the intelligence.

In one way or another one "lives" the myth, in the sense that one is seized by the sacred, exalting power of the events recollected or re-enacted. "Living" a myth, then, implies a genuinely "religious" experience, since it differs from the ordinary experience of everyday life. The "religiousness" of this experience is due to the fact that one re-enacts fabulous, exalting, significant events, one again witnesses the creative deeds of the Supernaturals; one ceases to exist in the everyday world and enters a transfigured, auroral world impregnated with the Supernaturals' presence. What is involved is not a commemoration of mythical events but a reiteration of them. The protagonists of the myth are made present; one becomes their contemporary. This also implies that one is no longer living in chronological time, but in the primordial Time, the Time when the event first took place. This is why we can use the term the "strong time" of myth; it is the prodigious, "sacred" time when something new, strong, and significant was manifested. To re-experience that time, to re-enact it as often as possible, to witness again the spectacle of the divine works, to meet with the Supernaturals and relearn their creative lesson is the desire that runs like a pattern through all the ritual reiterations of myths. In short, myths reveal that the World, man, and life have a supernatural origin and history, and that this history is significant, precious, and exemplary.

Dar cel care a cunoscut unirea aceea de neînțeles pentru experiența și mintea omenească, știe că de la un anumit nivel viața nu mai are sfârșit, că omul moare pentru că e singur, e despărțit, despicat în două, dar că printr-o mare îmbrățișare se regăsește pe sine într-o ființă cosmică, autonomă și eternă.