On p. 43 of the Sacred and the Profane, Eliade describes the idea of the center of the world and man’s need to be near it. It is an interesting concept for several reasons. The first could be that to a religious man his church or temple is his center. This can be said because this is his place of communication with God. The place of the highest level of importance to what he believes. The world would surely have multiple centers in regards to what Eliade expresses. I believe this to be true though. The center of some peoples worlds in a less religious sense might be their work, it might be their home, or hell, it might even be their local bar. Eliade describes how the universe spreads out from this point, which could be described as everything else surrounding this.
To certain cultures it might be the local temple to others it is the totem pole. Since it differs among people, its almost as if you can say that we are in our own little worlds. No pun intended. Our vision of importance is based on our own culture and background, and anything that isn’t standard to us is viewed as “alien.” Eliade makes a very relevant case with this idea, and it fits very nicely in with his talks about sacred space in general.
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