And I Realize How Useless Wails Are

In Imitating The Exemplary Acts Of A God Or Of A Mythic Hero, Or Simply By Recounting Their Adventures, The Man Of An Archaic Society Detaches Himself From Profane Time And Magically Re-enters The Great Time, The Sacred Time.

Whether Religion Is Man-made Is A Question For Philosophers Or Theologians. But The Forms Are Man-made. They Are A Human Response To Something. As A Historian Of Religions, I Am Interested In Those Expressions.

The Primitive Magician, The Medicine Man Or Shaman Is Not Only A Sick Man, He Is Above All, A Sick Man Who Has Been Cured, Who Has Succeeded In Curing Himself.

Man Becomes Aware Of The Sacred Because It Manifests Itself, Shows Itself, As Something Wholly Different From The Profane.

The Sacred Tree, The Sacred Stone Are Not Adored As Stone Or Tree; They Are Worshipped Precisely Because They Are Hierophanies, Because They Show Something That Is No Longer Stone Or Tree But Sacred, The Ganz Andere Or 'wholly Other.'