Adrianna C - Outside Reading - Other Sacred Places

Other Sacred Spaces by Jon Pahl Brazos

The author, Brazos, of this article looks into how shopping malls and Disney World are sacred places for our American Culture. Brazos asserts that place is critically important to American people so much so that malls, and things of a similar nature, help people foster their identity and purpose in life much like the trail. He relates stores, clothing, and the things we purchase inside malls to water, rocks, lights, and trees that appear to us as a part of reaching the holy – or things we need to purchase/experience to reach the holy.

I whole-heartedly agree that the sacredness of place is a huge part of American culture. I see it every day especially during the holiday season when people flock to stores on Black Friday and spend their life savings on the most unnecessary things. The extreme lengths people go to be fulfilled and satisfied. Specifically in America we live in a consumer driven culture. We have to have the best, wear the best, smell the best and look the best and if we don’t we are seen has the lesser. So why wouldn’t the Mall or places like it become sacred to us? These places are where we become all that we can become through purchasing all that we can.  I think it’s ridiculous.

Can people really find their purpose in life at the mall? Can people be fulfilled by the things they purchase? I don’t think so. But the culture we live really thinks that we can. This reminds me of removing ourselves from the marketplace, literally speaking. What things could we see if we stopped going to the mall and spent our time and money elsewhere? I think our culture would drastically change. If we found our worth, purpose and identity in things we could encounter rather than in things we put on ourselves there is no telling how much more centered our human nature would be.