"I tell you: one must have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star." -- Frederich Nietzche.
Initiation is such a constant in the cultural body that it is evident in one form or another in nearly every human culture that has ever existed before the industrial age, at which point it became notably absent, at least on the surface. This absence has produced a very real psychological crisis on a cultural scale, although as we will see in many ways the initiatory impulse has merely transferred itself, oftentimes to behaviors and beliefs which only shallowly fulfill that impulse.
Much enjoyed the text. I think that "rites of passage" have lost their place and efficacy in the US, for example. The question I ask myself is (what) occurs during the process of transformation? Part of the answer involves, as you say, an understanding of death and rebirth. I think your elaboration points in the right direction when proceeding to try and understand the distinction between the present and the past. Not to be over analytical, but I do think the transformation requires a change in understanding?
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