The Myth of the Eternal Return: Or, Cosmos and History

This book was written in 1949. In the Preface he says that he considers it his most important work. I think not; I think he was being disingenuous or modest and was concerned about "history," the book having been written only 4 years after WWII. Nevertheless I think it is an important work of his and probably the best to read for an introduction to his thought, which is still surprisingly fresh after more than 50 years.This is a short book, only 162 pages. Each page, however, is packed with ideas and meaning. Eliade tries to show the differences between what he calls "archaic" or "traditional" man and the man of modern societies, primarily Western; those being that archaic man's behavior is governed by myths and archetypes and a cyclical, or cosmic, view of time, whereas modern man, for the most part, is governed only by himself and his own ability to "make" history, and therefore has a linear, or historical, view of time, a position that is without any "transcendant" models, myths, or archetypes. He also attempts to show the emptiness of various historicisic philosphies, such as those by Dilthey, Heidegger, Croce, Gasset. I think Eliade is still worth hearing, and in fact was one of the great minds and encyclopediasts of the 20th century. If the reader is interested in myth, the philosophy of history, phenomenology, ethnology, and theology, or even just the idea of transhistorical ideas or meaning in life, Eliade is a must read. "The Myth of the Eternal Return" is a good starting point for Eliade, followed by "The Sacred and The Profane."

Stated most simply, this is a study of two understandings of what it means to exist in time: the archaic or traditional and the modern. According to Eliade man has traditionally sought to conform his actions in time to primordial or mythic actions performed by gods or heroes in the beginning of time. By conforming his actions to those performed in the beginning or as Eliade puts it "in illo tempore", traditional man gives significance to those actions. He saves his life in time from the terrors of meaninglessness. Modern man on the other hand, has lost or rejected the archetypical world, the world of eternity. He sees nothing beyond the world of time. Modern man, according to Eliade is "historical man." Rather than seeking to transcend history, he "consciously and voluntarily creates history." He is "the man who is in so far as he makes himself, within history."This neat division is complicated however, by the Judaic prophets and Christianity. The God of the Jewish people is a personal God who intervenes in history and reveals his will through events. "Historical facts thus become 'situations' of man in respect to God, and as such they acquire a religious value that nothing had previously been able confer on them." The relationship with Yahweh brings into play a new element according to Eliade--faith. Christianity takes up the Jewish understanding and amplifies it. For Christianity the meaning of history "is unique because the Incarnation is a unique fact." Yet the archaic understanding of returning to the archetype is not altogether rejected by Christianity, but woven into its' new understanding of the uniqueness of historical events.This essay spans 162 pages that are divided into four large chapters with subheadings. The first chapter introduces the notions of the archetype, the return to the archetype, and their relation to sacred and profane time and place. The second chapter deals in depth with sacred time as a return to eternity. The third chapter examines suffering and the return to the archetype. The forth chapter looks at the modern understanding of history as it relates to the archaic. The book includes and extensive bibliography and an index. No summary can do justice to the depth, range, and brilliance of Eliade's essay. His knowledge of religions is damn near encyclopedic. He opens up so many interesting avenues for further thought that reading him is like having your brain fertilized. This book is must reading for anyone interested in religion, myth, philosophy of history, personalism, liturgy, or the idea of progress. If you are interested in traditionalist thinkers such as Rene Guenon or Ananda Coomaraswamy you will also want to check out Eliade.

I was inspired by the icredible insight and interesting acedemic thought in this book -- it's hard to beleive that it was written over fourty years ago. The struggle with "the terror of history" and the horror of linear time is something that many of us still struggle with today.As a student of literature, I found this book particularly helpful in studying the moderns, such as T.S. Eliot and James Joyce, who, as Eliade mentions, both express a longing to return to the cyclical. As a mythology-lover I found that this book gave me a new perspective on the study of myth -- which I feel is still important if we are to understand the primitive depths of our own minds.

This little book has managed to influence all discussions about Time not only in religion, but also in psychology (see Norman O. Brown's "Life against Death"), the natural sciences(see Gould's "Time's Arrow"), literary criticism (see Camille Paglia) etc. Eliade's insights into Time are now so pervasive that it becomes de rigueur for this book to be read and relished not just by the scholars of religion, but also by those aspiring to a broader education. Do not be deceived, however, by the book's apparent simplicity; it is only a measure of Eliade's genius that profound insights are offered with the elegance of a true artist.