This paper studies ELIADE's opinions of human being. ELIADE’s historico-religious hermeneutic method explores the meaning and interpretation of messages hidden in religious myths, symbols and rituals. According to him, question of the meaning of human being is an important and fundamental question. He divides human beings into two categories in terms of their perspective on existence: the man of traditional society, who is definitely religious and the modern man.ELIADE's understanding of human being is studied in two sections: First, the human condition in a fallen state and second, human being as a religious man.The theme of descent will reveal ELIADE's shrewd analysis of the negative aspects of secular profane existence in three aspects: descent from paradise, secularization, and fall into time and history. Fall from paradise is a loss of that primordial perfection. Secularization is a fall into secular culture and desacralized cosmos. Fall into time and history is dwelling in an unholy time, that is an ontologically nonexistence, unreality. The religious man has a meaningful existence and a sacred mode of being in the "wasteland history". He is exactly what he was given in the beginning. He has an occupation which bestows meaning to life. For him, the only real act is an imitation of the divine act. Every behavior must be the imitation of archetype.

This paper studies the ontology of Mircea ELIADE. ELIADE’s historical-religious hermeneutic method explores the meaning and interpretation of messages hidden in religious myths, symbols and rituals. According to him, question of the meaning of existence is an important and real question for human being. Every religion, even in its most primitive form, is ontology. He divides human beings into two categories: the man of traditional society, who is definitely homo religious and the modern man. He denies that of the thinking of archaic man is illusory. He wants to live in a real and effective world. There are two modes of being in the world: sacred and profane. The sacred represents the real, order and the significant. Profane being is the opposite of the sacred mode of being: amorphous, relative and heterogeneous. He indicates that the sacred is equivalent to the real, to absolute truth, and to being. ELIADE’s exposition of archaic ontology suggests several unspecified implications: it is relational, non- derivable, non-reducible, non-contingent, dynamic and static. The essence precedes existence. It means that homo religious is what one is precisely because of primal events at the beginning of time. The sacred appears in the forms of myths, gods, symbols, creation and human beings. The manifestation of the sacred is dialectical, by which the ordinary things are transformed to sacred. Symbols and myths reveal the “Being”. The basis of myth is ontology. Since archaic and primitive myths account for the origin of realities, they are considered sacred and likewise eternally true. Homo religious, in the light of myths sees the manifestation of the “Being”. He considers himself its shepherd. It appears that he construes the profane, at least for the archaic or primitive person, to be unreal or illusory.

The methodology of the specialist of religions, Mircea ELIADE, has been bitterly criticized by other researchers in the same field. Some blame him for neglecting historical methods, others for being bound to theological approach. Therefore, his views as a specialist of religions are not given much credibility. and his books as a whole are considered as non - critical. Nonetheless, an analysis of his works shows that his approach. which enables us to understand the very essence of religion and of religious experiences. originates in a descripto - experimental and phenomenological process. According to ELIADE, religion is a suitable answer of man confronted with the "sacred"; and this answer will be obtained through an experimental process and the course of the life of the man who practices his religion.

Mircea ELIADE examined the relationship between man and religion not on the basis of his psychological and sociological life, but on the basis of his intrinsic functioning as a religious being. As viewed by ELIADE, the religious identity of man has been existent in pre-modern times and lived in a religious manner with an epistemic and a post-history model of life. With man`s being initiated into the modern world, the alienation and denial of religious identity has occurred by him. This article, using the analytico-descriptive approach, studies ELIADE`s view on human being and concluded that ELIADE, comparing the structure of the nature of ancient human with that of modern man, has achieved the fact that, firstly, modern man as becoming alienated and missing his religious nature, lacks many valuse and, secondly, there may not be found any meaningful and influential identity or particularity and, thirdly, the way for pre-modern values to return and for the religious identity of modern man to be achieved, would be his reconciliation With religious values and his link with myth.

The difference between the theories and approaches of religious researches should be sought in their ontological aspects. The reflection of the researcher's view about the world, religions, and its nature leads to specific strategies, methods, and theories, and different ontological circumstances, produces different discourses, and consequently, different results. Two discourses prevail in the space of comparative religious studies today. First is Mircea ELIADE’s discourse of "creative hermeneutics and phenomenology with undisputed authority" and the other is the "postmodern and historical approach of passing through ELIADE" represented by Jonathan Zittell Smith, who has a major contribution in systematizing the academic discipline of "history of religions". Introducing, analyzing and expressing the ontological confrontation prevailing the theories of the two prominent religious scholars, this article provides a more accurate evaluation and a better understanding of the methodical study of religious structures and phenomena in interreligious researches.

Adopting an ontological approach towards myths, Mircea ELIADE (1907-1986) argues that the primitive man’ s conception of myths as true repetitive stories is related to his ontological structure. Accordingly, ELIADE, criticizing Freud’ s understanding of the creation of the myth as an unconscious process, suggests that myth is basically a theoretical explanation of rituals which consciously deal with the symbolic repetition of Creation. In this way, ELIADE, following Durkheim’ s dichotomy regarding the sacred and the profane, asserts that the primitive man thinks of being and its objects as the result of hierophany: a process through which the sacred is embodied as an objective entity. The present article aims to survey the theoretical foundations of ELIADE’ s thought as well as his arguments in this respect. Emphasizing ELIADE’ s theoretical assumptions and phenomenological methodology, the article argues that ELIADE’ s theory is somewhat questionable and it is, instead, suggested that what he puts forth as the ontological structure of the human being is better understood as a cultural constitute. Extended Abstract 1. Introduction ELIADE studies mythology from the viewpoint of a historian of religion. Attempting to yield a phenomenological analysis of myth, he eventually turns to hermeneutic interpretation or creative hermeneutics to uncover the latent meanings of myths. He argues that what renders the world of myths meaningful is the interpretation that is based on their phenomenological description. The definition provided by ELIADE is based on a kind of ontological distinction established between two different levels of being: one based on an anti-historical approach and the on a history-oriented approach to being and time. However, although what he puts forth as his logical argument seems to be of high validity and, thus, deserving reflection and admiration, it appears that his preliminary assumptions in the distinction drawn between the sacred and the profane as well as his emphasis on the inherency of this distinction is in contrast with the phenomenological approach in its philosophical dimension. 2. Theoretical Framework The purpose of this study is to investigate the theoretical foundations of the myth, and possibly religion, so as to examine the originality of ELIADE’ s theory. It goes without saying that such a study can expose the weaknesses of Elide’ s theory and question the validity of some of his assumptions and, thus, it can become more applicable in analyzing the structure of the myth. 3. Methodology ELIADE’ s mythological views are mainly based on the distinction between the sacred and the profane. This dichotomy constitutes the basics of his methodology. Such a perspective toward the components of mythology allows him to present the so-called ontological dichotomy that he proposes to exist between two different levels of being: an anti-historical and a history-oriented approach to being and time. As a result, we will investigate the theoretical foundations of ELIADE’ s assumptions, and the authenticity of his reasoning through a close reading of what phenomenology offers as a method of analysis. 4. Findings When ELIADE emphasizes that the sacred is spatially or temporally embodied through the process of revelation, he takes for granted some assumptions that are not as clear-cut as he supposes them to be. What ELIADE considers to be the sacred is essentially the same as what is known, in the history of philosophy, as Platonic ideas. The revelation of the sacred in the objective forms of being is considered to be of a lesser value in comparison with what he assumes to be the absolute truth and, therefore, any objective phenomenon is considered, on the one hand, to have the potential to represent as well as embody the sacred, and thus be of the same dignity as the sacred, while, on the other hand, to be restricted to its existential limits and constraints. The sacred discloses itself in various dimensions and effects and is, consequently, manifested in different levels of being, and such manifestations will exhibit huge differences in terms of degree and frequency. 5. Conclusion The present study shows that phenomenology, as a methodological tool, has been used by ELIADE in a special sense. He has not only restricted his studies to the phenomenological description and interpretation of the myth; but, instead of addressing the structure or configuration of the mythical components, has focused on discovering the common themes or motifs of mythology, i. e., the hermeneutic analysis of myths. Of course, it seems that ELIADE has deemed some of his questionable assumptions evident without a valid benchmark and regarded such assumptions as the cornerstone of his future topics and concerns. These assumptions, however, are in a way of epistemological character and are, in fact, culturally constituted, but ELIADE has tried to resolve the issue by reducing such topics to some pre-fabricated forms or what philosophers consider as a priori. This can be due to the difficulty ELIADE experiences in explaining them structurally.

Manaqib al-Arefin, authored by Shams al-Din Ahmad Aflaki, describes the life of Mawlawi family and the elders of Mawlawiyya Order. In this book, Aflaki portrayed mythological and surreal characters of the predecessors and contemporaries. Many mystical issues of Manaqib al-Arefin are consistent with mythological concepts; and mythological beliefs play a role in the formation of the contents of this mystical biography. This research has raised the question of which components of mystical themes of Manaqib al-Arefin are proportional to the mythological themes of ELIADE. In this paper, Manaqib al-Arefin has been analyzed using a descriptive-analytical method and a mythological approach based on ELIADE’ s perspective to explain the extent of conformity between mysticism and myth. The results show that in this work, the hero has already been designated as a savior according to the archetypes. In Mawlawi’ s life cycle, one can clearly see the stages of purification, renewal of life and manifestation; he performs the ritual of holy washing before entering his subconscious domain and prepares himself to join the assembly of holiness, and on his inner journey, he transcends the human requirements and attains the witnessing of God Exalted, the angels, prophets, and spirits. Moreover, in Manaqib al-Arefin, the roof of school and the bath pool are exemplary types of the center of the world where the earthly world and spiritual world join.

Mircea ELIADE (1907-1986) was one of the most outstanding scholars on religious studies, mythology and symbolism. He wrote a number of important works on subjects such as yoga and shamanism, morphology and general types of religious experience. He also had some important theories on the Holy and special function of religion. In his view, bringing about of the encounter of man and the Holy is the main function of religion and religious rituals as a whole. Religion helps man to recognize manifestations of the Holy in nature and History. Primitive man had a special talent in discovering the Holy in nature, so much so that for him all nature was the mainfestation of the Holy, while for the Hebrews it was manifested in history rather than nature. In this view, the Holy shows himself in the ups and downs of history, which in turn brings about considerable consequences.

The concept of sacrifice is one of the major themes in Biveh-koshi (Widow Killing) a novel by Yousef Alikhani. It contributes to the coherence of the narrative and the sequence of events in the story. Various mythologists have studied the subject of sacrifice in the culture of different ethnic groups, including Mircea ELIADE, who equates sacrifice with the act of creation and the necessity of life. He believes that nothing can be created without sacrifice. Biveh-koshi is a contemporary example of the rite of sacrifice. In the novel, the successive sacrifices of the seven sons of Hazratgholi and the sacrificing a lamb instead of a virgin girl are reminiscent of mythological idea of the rite of sacrifice. In the present study, the authors, by using an analytical-comparative approach, have first interpreted the main theories of Mircea ELIADE about concepts such as the myth of creation, sacrificing and the initial perfection. Then, they have analyzed the elements of the rite of sacrifice in Biveh-koshi in order to explain the views of ELIADE and to evaluate their compatibility with the narrative of the story. The results of the study show that the narrative of Biveh-koshi is a manifestation of the conflict between the myths of creation and fertility.

The contrast between sacred and unsacred affairs and their relation, the translation from limited historical time and entering the everlasting moment, centricity and regenerating the main, issues have been Mircea ELIADE’s concerns which he has been dealt with in the most of his works. He has also retold these issues in his stories: The story of The Great Man is included. In respect to the present study, we have tried to analyze this story in terms of structure and content by using the qualitative method and content analysis based on ELIADE's mythological approach. ELIADE's view of religion as an experience of the sacred and myth as a narrator of sacred history is also reflected in this literary text. ELIADE has used mythical pattern and symbols like night, moon, tree, and jungle in his narration. After sudden physical changes and consequently destruction of the order of his life, the protagonist of the story leaves the company of people and retreat to the mountain, the center of the world and a holy place, and he reaches philosophy and awareness there. His movement is a transition from mundane lineal limited time to sacred infinite time and a return to eternal revolution which is the start of his regeneration. On the other hand, his transition is a reminder of novitiate ceremony and secret learning and the myth of the Lost Heaven.