“One person’s myth is another
person’s religion.”
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
“One person’s myth is another
person’s religion.”
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
•To what extent is one’
person’s sacred place
profane place?
•Are there any places
which are universally
sacred?
Myths as Products of the Mind
Individual Mind
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
id / ego / superego
dream world of the individual
Myths as Products of the Mind
Individual Mind
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
id / ego / superego
dream world of the individual
•Are sacred places part of our individual dream world?
•I.e., do they spring from our unconscious?
Myths as Products of the Mind
Collective Mind
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
dream world of society
collective unconscious
archetypes: recurring myths characters, situations and
events
archetype as primal form or pattern from which all other
versions are derived
Myths as Products of the Mind
Collective Mind
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
dream world of society
collective unconscious
archetypes: recurring myths characters, situations and
events
archetype as primal form or pattern from which all other
versions are derived
Or does our sense of sacred space spring from our
collective unconscious?
Students of Jung
Ernst Cassirer (1874-1975)
Mircea Eliade (1907-1986)
Victor Turner (1920-1983)
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)
Mircea Eliade
(1907-1986)
Eliade's analysis of religion assumes the existence of "the
sacred" as the object of worship of religious humanity.
Myths reflect a creative era, a sacred time, a vanished epoch of
unique holiness.
Mircea Eliade
(1907-1986)
Eliade's analysis of religion
assumes the existence of "the
sacred" as the object of worship
of religious humanity.
Myths reflect a creative era, a
sacred time, a vanished epoch of
unique holiness.
To what extent does our sense of sacred
space reflect our understanding of,
yearning for a creative era, sacred time,
vanished epoch of holinesss?