In The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, Mircea Eliade displays the difference in how a religious person views the world around him/her and how a non-religious person views the world around him/her. Eliade uses the dimensions of space, time, nature, and the self to illustrate his points. He tried to explain the experience of religious people in a way that non-religious people can understand and also in a way that religious people can easily identify with.
Space:
Eliade believes that space can be sacred for a religious person. The first example he gives in the book is the story of Moses and the burning bush. To a non-religious person this might not mean a lot but to Jews and Christians this is a very important part of faith.…show more content… The gods did not simply show humans the beauty or sacredness in nature; they manifested themselves into it (Eliade, 116). Eliade upholds that a religious person would believe that since the world exists, the gods are responsible for it. He believes, because of this, a religious person can see sacredness everywhere. It can be found in everyday parts of nature because if a god created the world, that god also created the small things in nature. For many religions their god is a “sky god.” Their god is distant and thus is not actively involved in the daily activities of the peoples. When natural disasters occurred, the people would turn to Yahweh and call on Him to help them; however, when things were going well they would return to worshipping the gods who were closer and more accessible such as Baal. They believed that these other gods could “only reproduce and augment life” (Eliade, 127). They did not necessarily believe that these gods could “save” them. They believed that they needed Yahweh; they just did not always practice this…show more content… “All waters, therefore, in virtue of the pristine privilege of their origin, do, after invocation of God, attain the sacramental power of sanctification…” (Eliade, 132). Baptism, for the religious person, is a symbol of rebirth. Baptism represents “purification from sins and the grace of adoption,” but it also represents oneness with Christ. Religions throughout history have used water and the symbol of baptism to symbolize death and resurrection. These implications that water or Baptism purifies is prominent in many modern religions. The realization that there is a nature that is not sacred is a recent idea. For most people, especially the religious people, nature “still exhibits a charm, a mystery, a majesty” (Eliade, 151). Eliade believes that however non-religious a person might be, they still see the charm and beauty of nature. The religious person uses nature as a way to see the power and magnificence of God, whereas a non-religious person would probably not describe it that way, but would still see something striking about