Eternal Return (Eliade)
The "Eternal return" is, according to the theories of religious historian Mircea Eliade, a belief, expressed (sometimes implicitly, but often explicitly) in religious behavior, in the ability to return to the mythical age, to become contemporary with the events described in one's myths. It should be distinguished from the philosophical concept of eternal return.
Read more about Eternal Return (Eliade): Sacred and Profane, Origin As Power, Sacred Time, Myths, Rituals, and Their Purpose, Cyclic Time, Human Creativity, "Terror of History", Terror of The Eternal Return, Scholarly Criticism, References in Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words eternal and/or return:
“Freedom to think our own thoughts, freedom to utter them, freedom to live out the promptings of our inner life ultimated in this convention, was termed a monstrosity of the 19th century. What was it?—the legitimate out-birth of the eternal law of progress. This reformation underlies every other; it is the only healthful centre around which hope of humanity can revolve.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)
“We wished our two souls
might return like gulls
to the rock. In the end,
the water was too cold for us.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)