Landscapes of the Sacred Blog Post
Chapter 1- Axioms for the Study of Sacred Place
The first axiom states that “The sacred place is not chosen;
it chooses”. This means that the place
discovers the person and not the other way around. Besides, if someone were actively seeking out
a sacred place, it would lose a great deal of its significance. It would make sacred places too easy to find,
which would make them too similar to common places.
“Sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made
extraordinary.” This axiom means that
ritual is what makes a place sacred. The
sacred place does not have to be a designated, special religious place such as
a church or a synagogue. It can be as
simple as a clearing in the woods.
Meditating and praying in the sacred place is what makes it have sacred
meaning to the individual person who experiences it.
“Sacred place can be tred upon without being entered.” This
axiom means that a person can walk past, or even through a sacred place without
realizing its sacredness. The author of
the textbook had walked past his sacred clearing in the woods several times
before the place became sacred to him.
This is the case with a lot of sacred places.
“The impulse of sacred place is both centripetal and
centrifugal, local and universal”. This means that the sacredness of the place is
not defined by its geographical location. This is because God is not confined to one
specific place- He is omnipresent.
Sometimes sacred places can distract us from everyday life.
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