...the passage rites of hero gods,a projection of mans conflict with forces which challenge his eforts to harmoise with his environment,physical,soacil and pshychic.The dram of ther hero gods is aconvinient expression;gods they are unquerstuionably,but their synbolioc roles are identified by man as the role of an intermediary querster,an explorer into teritiries of eeesencve-ideal around whose edges man fearfully skirts.
The setting of Ritual,of the drama of the gods,is the cosmic emntirety...The dramtic or tragic rites of the gods are...egaed 2it the ...profound...elusive phenomenon of being and non-being.Man can shleve or even overwlem mertaphysical ujcettaimnties...butn this exercise proves a mere surrogate to the bedwildering phenomenonm of the cosmic location of his being.The fundamental visceral questioning intrudes,prompted by the patient,immovable immensaity that sorrounds him.We may speculate that it is the relaity of this undented vastness wjich created the need to challenge,confornt and at least intiotate arr[port with the relam of of infinity.It was-there being no otherconceivable place-the natural home of the unseen deities,a resting-place for the departed,and a staging-house for the unborn.Intutiions,sudden psychic emantions could come,logically,only from such an imncomparble immensity.A chthonic realm,a storehouse for creative and dsecrtuctive essences,it reuired a cghkllenger,a huamn representaive to breach it perifiocally on behalf of thewell-beimng of the community.The stage,the ritual arena opf confornation,came to resent the symbolic chtonicspace and the presence of the challenger within it is the earliest physical exp[ression of mans fearful awreness of the cosmic context of his exutence.Its magic microcosm is creteated by the communal prresence,and in this charged space the chthonic inmhbitamntsd are chgallrenged.
This conetext is the cosmic taotality...
I Asain and European antiquity,therefore,man did,like the African,exist within a cosmic taotality,did poses a consciuosness in whih his won earth being,his gravity-bound apprehension of self,was insepoerable from the newtire osmic phenomenon. (For let it always be recalled tyhat myths srise from attempts to edxtenalise and communicate his inner imytutions)