Eliade’s chapter on Symbolism of the “Center” in his text Images and Symbols discusses the fragility of the moments between life and death and the struggle felt by all humanity to search for the center of the earth. Eliade refers to this human condition of pursuing reality as ‘the nostalgia for paradise.’ In order for this quest to be successful then, the human is searching for that which will make him loses his earthly qualities and acquire those that will make him divine. Eliade refers to the story of the Fisher King, which we have discussed many times throughout the semester, and serves as the perfect example to his writing.
The King’s actions were not only causing him to fall ill but the earth, the animals, and everything around him was perishing. For me, this aspect of the story highlights a great human fault of selfishness and an ignorance of how greatly our actions affect those all around us. The King and all those who were working to cure him were focusing on the symptoms and stopping the pain rather than looking for the source of the illness.
The second main point of the story is the means in which Parsifal was able to successfully break the spell. He disregarded tradition and politeness and stuck to the only truth he knew was worthy of following, the Holy Grail. Eliade goes on to say, “death is often only the result of our indifference to immortality.” This death is beyond the physical beating of a heart, it is a spiritual death as well, and it is conquered by clinging to whatever truth we have found to be most real and at the center.
What is more amazing than the vast number of different ways in which humans have tried to answer life’s biggest questions through spirituality, religion, philosophy and science is the fact that we all share this desire for the answers. Whether or not someone considers them self religious in any way, each one of us believes that we are experiencing reality and living a life that is true. This ‘nostalgia for paradise’ is certainly as aspect of humanness that can not be ignored or denied.
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