Mircea Eliade distinguished sacred time (the eternal time of myths, outside profane history) from profane time (ordinary historical time). Myths often occur in illo tempore ('in that time'), a non-sequential, cyclical, or eternally present temporality. Different cultures conceive time differently: some emphasize cyclical return, others linear progress toward an end. Ritual often aims to reconnect present time with sacred mythic time.
Examine how different myths structure time—do they emphasize cyclical recurrence, linear progression, or eternal present? Compare a culture's cosmology to its time-conception and ritual practices.
Sacred time is simply 'ancient times.' (Sacred time transcends historical duration; it's a mode of temporality.) All cultures experience time the same way. (Cosmologies produce radically different temporal conceptions.)
Sacred time is a fundamental dimension of how cultures understand reality and meaning. Mircea Eliade, a phenomenologist of religion, distinguished sharply between sacred time (the eternal, non-sequential time of myths) and profane time (ordinary historical time). This distinction reveals that cultures do not all experience temporality the same way, and that myths operate in a different mode of time than historical narrative.
When a myth is said to occur in 'illo tempore' ('in that time'), the reference is not to a specific historical moment but to a mode of temporality that transcends ordinary duration. Mythic time can be cyclical, eternally recurring, eternally present, or outside sequence entirely. In cyclical time, what happened in myth happens again and again: seasons return, empires rise and fall in the same pattern, creation cycles endlessly. In eternal time, the mythic events exist in an eternal present, not located in history but perpetually present. Creation has always already happened and is always happening.
This contrasts radically with profane or historical time, which is linear, sequential, and measured. Historical time moves from past to present to future; causes precede effects; events are unrepeatable. A historical account asks "what happened?" in a way that locates events in a specific temporal sequence. Mythic time asks "what does this mean?" in a way that transcends temporal location.
Different cosmologies produce different temporal conceptions. Hindu cosmology, with its yugas and cosmic cycles, understands time as cyclical and eternal: there is no single creation moment but endless cycles of creation and destruction spanning ages. This worldview produces attitudes toward history different from linear cosmologies: if time is cyclical, the future will resemble the past; progress is not linear but cyclic; renewal requires descent and destruction.
Abrahamic cosmologies, by contrast, emphasize linear time: creation is singular and unrepeatable; history moves toward a defined goal (the apocalypse, the kingdom of God); progress is directional. This worldview produces different attitudes toward history: the future is genuinely open and different from the past; progress is directional; the present moment is situated in a unique historical sequence leading toward an end.
Eliade emphasized that ritual is the mechanism by which cultures reconnect present profane time with sacred mythic time. When a culture performs a creation myth, the performance temporarily suspends profane temporality and brings sacred time into the present. The eternal mythic event overlaps with the present moment. Through ritual, communities periodically reconnect with the sacred, reestablishing cosmic order and ensuring renewal. This is not merely psychological or symbolic; ritual is understood to have real cosmological effects. The performance of myth in ritual re-enacts the mythic event, making it present, renewing its power.
Different temporal conceptions have real consequences for ethics, history, and religious practice. Cultures emphasizing cyclical renewal often focus on harmony with cycles and acceptance of destruction as necessary for rebirth. Cultures emphasizing linear progress often focus on advancing toward a goal and resisting entropy. A culture's temporal conception shapes how it approaches history, plans for the future, and understands the meaning of change.
Understanding the distinction between sacred and profane time, and recognizing that different cultures conceive time differently, is essential for understanding mythology. Without this distinction, myths can seem confused (why does the myth contradict history?) or primitive (how could an ancient person believe this?). With understanding of sacred time as a distinct mode of temporality, myths reveal their own logic and power.
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