Well worth the read for anyone interested in understanding the many commonalities among religions and how even modern, non-religious people retain so many essentially religious practices. I came away feeling that no modern religions have any real claim to much originality.I also came away with a much greater appreciation of the way truly religious people feel about that which they consider sacred - the world around them - even while I still see religion as essentially superstition, and organized religion as the means by which church leaders knowingly use those superstitious/religious beliefs to so effectively manipulate so many people. Even so, the book conveyed to me how "religious man" sees the world as special and mysterious, whereas a dedicated, non-religious man's world view is somehow lacking in that emotional connection to the cosmos.

Well, I hope to one day read the whole book. For now, one section was assigned for reading in my "Ritual" course at Pacifica.
I loved it!
"Sacred Space and Making the World Sacred."
Eliade demonstrates how whenever we make something, a home, a city, a church, we are re-enacting the form of creation, and, as religious individuals, are seeking union with God. He discusses the sacredness of "transforming [any] dwelling place" (52).
My favorite passage:
"Exactly like the city of the sanctuary, the house is sanctified, in whole or part, by cosmological symbolism or ritual. This is why settling somewhere-building a village or merely a house-represents a serious decision, for the very existence of man is involved; he must, in short, create his own world and assume the responsibility of maintaining and renewing it . . . The House is not a an object[.] it is the universe that man constructs for himself by imitating the paradigmatic creation of the gods, the cosmogony. Every construction and every inauguration of a new dwelling are in some measure equivalent to a new beginning, a new life . . . Even in modern societies, with their high degree of desacralization, the festivity and rejoicing that accompany settling in a new house still preserve the memory of the festivals [of long ago]" (56, 57).

covered the basics

"Omul nu va deveni el însuși decât în clipa în care va fi în întregime demistificat, si nu va fi cu adevărat liber decât după ce–l va fi ucis pe ultimul zeu."