Jake Andrich- "The Four Axioms" (Landscapes of the Sacred)

It takes a lot to find one’s sacred place.  In Belden C. Lane’s Landscapes of the Sacred, Lane mentions that there are these things called the four axioms that are basically a set of guidelines for sacred place.  He also mentions that the first axiom is that “you don’t find the sacred place, it finds you”.  Let’s say for example that my sacred place is a certain spot on the beach where I’m all alone and it’s all quiet and all I can hear is the sounds of the waves crashing.  The first axiom means that I didn’t choose that one specific location it chose me.  I have been to many beaches many different times but when I was in that one spot, everything felt different.  Everything felt perfect.  That was my sacred place, where I just happened to cross and feel perfect.  Lane mentions that the second axiom is “sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary”.  This means that a sacred place can be basically anywhere and doesn’t have to be important to others.  It is made memorable by the ritual act of silence.  Lane mentions that the third axiom is that “sacred place can be tread upon without being entered”.  This means that I could’ve crossed my sacred place on the beach many different times.  I could’ve been at the same part of the beach, just not at the right time.  I could’ve crossed over a bridge that went right over my sacred place.  Finally, Lane mentions that the fourth and final axiom is that “sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal”.  This means that I don’t necessarily have to physically be in my sacred place.  I could zone out and start thinking about it, breaking my attentiveness.  It forces me back to God’s presence of the world.