2. HOLDING SACRED THAT WHICH IS NOT SACRED

2. Holding Sacred that which is not Sacred ~ 75 ~ earth to these ‘nature spirits,’ which were the forces, or personifications of the forces of nature. “32 Scholars of religion agree in general that the concept of holiness is the cohesive force in all religions. That is, for a religion to hold together, some unique or extraordinary person or thing must be designated as sacred and stand at the apex of the sum of its beliefs. This cannot be explained in terms of general, rational principles. The commonest human reactions to objects of sanctity are fear and fascination. Only the sacred can fulfill man’s deepest needs and aspirations. Thus, the reverence that man shows for whatever is held sacred is composed both of trust and of terror. There is also the view that the acceptance of something as sacrosanct signals the boundaries of human effort, where man’s inherent limitations prevent him from seeking any further. The objects of man’s reverence are disparate in nature, e.g. stones, animals, the sea, the sun, the moon, kings and other religious personalities. Whatever is held sacred is worshipped, and sacrifices, made to it. Rituals are observed in order