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“It must never be forgotten that initiatory death simultaneously signifies the end of the "natural," noncultural man, and passage to a new modality of existence-that of a being "born to spirit," that is, a being that does not live solely in an immediate reality. Thus initiatory death forms an integral part of the mystical process by which the novice becomes another, fashioned in accordance with the model revealed by the Gods or the mythical Ancestors. This is as much as to say that one becomes truly a man in proportion as one ceases to be a natural man and resembles a Supernatural Being.” — Mircea Eliade
It must never be forgotten that initiatory death simultaneously
signifies the end of the "natural," noncultural man, and passage
to a new modality of existence-that of a being "born to spirit,"
that is, a being that does not live solely in an immediate reality.
Thus initiatory death forms an integral part of the mystical process
by which the novice becomes another, fashioned in accordance with
the model revealed by the Gods or the mythical Ancestors. This
is as much as to say that one becomes truly a man in proportion
as one ceases to be a natural man and resembles a Supernatural
Being.