Initiation and Symbol in R. L. Stevenson

TREASURE ISLAND REVISITED What is the significance of initiation in modem times and the role played by literature in conveying its rituals? Setting out from the concept itself, it may be useful to remember that initiation is a late Latin calque of in-ire and so the etymology reveals the condition of the individuai going into a reality, acquiring an inward knowledge of it. With the process of initiation the subject becomes in-dividual, undivided from his own principle. The initiatory epiphany consists therefore in a profound ontologica! mutation in the novice, who experiences a symbolic death, that is separation from his previous status and a new birth. In traditional societies, from the simplest archaic types to the more sophisticated ones, initiatory rites were fundamental in preserving cultural values and balancing the relation to time. As knowledge was retained of divine origins, initiation was a performance acted within the horizon of transcendence