Свето/профано, чисто/нечисто – дијалектичка контекстуализација

Abstract

The dialectical relationship between the sacred, as the basis of religion, and its defining opposition to the profane will be outlined, along with the accompanying dichotomies of pure/impure and forbidden/permitted. The necessity of the idea of the sacred and the feeling of the sacred for the functioning of the religious cult will be underlined. The ambivalent nature of the sacred will be shown through the pairs of opposites it is comprised of, and the need for suitable spatio-temporal context for sacred ritualisation will be demonstrated. The dialectical relationship between the sacred, implying taboo; the pure, implying protection from the impure; and the powerful, inferring systems of bans, will be briefly accounted for through the primordial belief in mana as an underlying sacred power in the world. It will also be shown in Emile Durkheim’s definition of religious phenomena through the basic sacred/profane dichotomy and the totemic clan-system as collective, social and coercive cult organization. This sacred/profane – pure/ impure relationship will also be demonstrated in Rudolf Otto’s categorisation of the sacred (the numinous) as something “entirely other”, pertaining to a realm which transcends the usual, rational reality, and is in complete opposition with the ordinary quotidian experiences. Finally, it will be briefly outlined in Mircea Eliade’s incorporation of both lines in his theory of the sacredness of myth (and the accompanying rituals) and the nostalgia for the origins, through the reactualisation of the initial sacred time and space in religious rituality. The aims are to show the ambivalent nature of sacred (the pure), its dependence from the profane (the impure and the double-fold taboo) and the ways in which they can only exteriorise their nature and come in contact in suitable context.