Paige Dwyer-Landscapes Reflection (1)

Lane describes four different rules, or axioms, that help us better understand the character of sacred space. They describe how places are perceived in the process of mythogenesis. The first axiom is that sacred place is not chosen, but rather it chooses. This basically means that God chooses to reveal his presence and glory whenever and where ever he desires. The second axiom is that sacred place is an ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary. This means that any place can become sacred through rituals, and it is not limited to just visually striking places. The third axiom is that sacred place can be tred upon without being entered. This means that the place may not be easiy recognized and therefore could be crossed without knowlege of its sacred significance. The last of the four axioms is that the impulse of sacred place is both local and universal. This means that it can be sacred for a particular community or an entire country. These axioms help us understand how to define a sacred place. It can be somewhere like the Temple of Jerusalem or simply your backyard. Actual location is less important that the significace behind the location.

Lane Reflection- Erin Comerford

Lane describes four phenomenological categories or axioms that describe how places are perceived in the process of mythogenesis. Those four axioms are: 1. sacred place is not chosen, it chooses. 2.sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary. 3. sacred place can be tred upon without being entered. and 4. the impulse of sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universe. Each of these axioms describes sacred place. The first three axioms make sense to me. A place isn't sacred because someone or something makes it sacred, it is sacred because the place itself chooses to be sacred. It is the place that makes it sacred. Through rituals, an ordinary place can be transformed into a sacred or extraordinary place. Without those rituals in that place, the place is not sacred. Also, one can tred upon or be in a sacred place, but not experience because they are either not letting that place choose, or they are not participating in the ritual of that place. The fourth axiom however, is a little harder for me to understand. The concept that physical sacred place is in that place itself but also universal is a little confusing to me. I understand the concept of sacredness that is universal, but a physical place being universal doesn't make sense. It may have something to do with the fact that the sacredness of a place, like the rituals, can be universal or in many places.

Rachel Hrovat- Class Reflection 9/23/2010

Today in class we discussed José Ortega y Gassett's quote, "Tell me the landscape in which you live and I will tell you who you are", and the profoundness of this statement. The more I thought and pondered about the quote, the more I came to agree with what he was saying. My thoughts then turned to people I know very well and when thinking about the areas they grew up in, I realized that those who grew up in similar landscapes have similar personalities, senses of humor, behaviors and mannerisms. My friends from the mountains versus the friends I have from a more urban community. Those from the mountians in West Virginia do not need much to be entertained. At a gathering, we might just sit and talk on the front porch for several hours. My friends from a more developed area, however, like to go out to dinner, or see a movie when a get-together is planned. I am still wondering what is is exactly, about the environment we live in, that causes and shapes us into the people we are. And how, some, like Ortega y Gassett are able to determine what someone is like just by knowing that individual's surroundings. It really is interesting to see the substantial role that wilderness and environment play in people's lives.

Jamie Englert-Outside Reading

I have been reading this book, Irresistible Revolution, for a few weeks now and it has really challenged my thinking about Christian faith and how to live out that lifestyle. The author, Shane Claiborne, takes a look at what it is like to live as what he calls, an “ordinary radical” and illustrates this using examples from his own life and those of great people he has met. The majority of the book focuses on poverty, particularly in the United States, and what we so called “Christians” do to address it. Claiborne is a very blunt and honest guy and stresses the point of how so many Christians live their lives in their comfortable, suburban churches and stay in their comfortable, Caucasian cliques. At first I read this and was slightly offended. Who is this guy to judge how people profess and live out their faith? But then I realized he did have a point. Looking at the people I surround myself with and the churches I attend, they can sometimes resemble his description. Now he does mention that this is not always a bad thing because fellowship is important, but if we claim that we want to live and love as Jesus did, we must step out of our comfort zones sometimes. So I started thinking…who did Jesus hang out with? Who did he love that I don’t love? Well, he was friends with tax collectors, fisherman, adulterers, lepers, the blind, the deaf…and the list goes on. This group is quite the assortment of people, yet Jesus loved each one individually and unconditionally, regardless of their circumstances or where they came from. I took a step back and looked at my life: All my friends look the same and I certainly know I do not always treat them as I should. I could continue this life of stability, but could I still say that I was living to be “Christ-like?” He hung out with the poor and lonely, the widowed and weary, why was I not doing the same? I have a friend at school that does just that. She goes to downtown Newport News throughout the week and hangs out with the homeless. She and a few others have even gone so far as to help some of them get jobs at CNU and create a better life for themselves. How great is that? Some of her greatest friends are homeless people and she finds satisfaction in her faith through that type of ministry. She is living her life the way God intended to us to live;to me, that is inspiring.

Will Geiger- My Place

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go home and see my family. I'm only a sophomore and I don't pay rent or anything yet so my real home is still the place I go in Herndon, VA when I'm not at school. When I got there on Friday it had been nearly a month since I'd stepped into my house. Long enough to be able to smell the aroma that is unique to ones own home. As I set foot through the door, my dogs, in a frenzy, leaped up at me in an effort to taste the new and interesting flavors of my skin. My sister, characteristically, doesn't say hi to me until I say hi to her first. My room (as instructed) is exactly the way I left it when I went off to school a month before: bed unmade, clothes on the ground, closet open. I don't know if this is the case for everyone, but being home is more relaxing to me than anything else I can think of. I belong there because it was built with me as a part of it. My mother even admits that (even when she doesn't miss me) it feels as if there's a hole in the household where my presence belongs.

Paige Dwyer-Outside Reading (1)

I have spent some time going through the Bible to find verses that talk about wilderness. It is actually a very common topic that appears in many chapters, including both the Old and New Testament. However, the context of wilderness is much different than what we perceive it to be in our class. It is not a place considered to be sacred but rather feared. It is a place of temptation and of suffering. In many chapters, the wilderness is known as a place for outcasts and exiles. One of the most common segments regarding wilderness would be Matthew 4:1-25. Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting the desert (wilderness). He was famished and thus, the devil utilized this opportunity to tempt Jesus. The tempter said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus replied, “It is written, one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus was tempted a few more times but replied that he is only to serve and worship the one true God. In the Bible, the wilderness represents a place where one goes when they have lost sight of God. Those who seek forgiveness are lead out of the wilderness by the light of the Lord and shown the path of righteousness. This is contrary to our conception of the wilderness, being a place of peace and serenity. However, the idea that I find to be in common between the Bible’s notion of the wilderness and our class’ conception is that the wilderness is place where one goes for self-discovery. Someone who ventures into the wilderness is obviously searching for something or trying to fill some void in their life. In the Bible, those who end up in the wilderness are either lead out by the light of God or forever remain lost wanderers. Nowadays, those who venture into the wilderness either seek some sort of enlightenment or simply find a new love for nature and the escape from reality.

Josh Osteen - Adam's Peak

Ok, so there is this mountain in Sri Lanka. It's not the tallest mountain, nor is it a mountain of any specific geographic location in regards to things such as volcanoes or fault lines. This mountain is pretty much an ordinary mountain. This is what someone sailing past the island might say if someone were to point it out to them. This is not even close to the significance of this piece of land. Adam's Peak is the home to a pilgrimage that spans 4 of the most prominent religions of the world. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims all trek up this mountain for what lies at the top. At the summit of this mountain there is what everyone believes to be the footprint of an important figure in each of the religions. There is a formation in the rock at the top that looks like a big footprint. This print has a temple built around it that is kept in top shape by monks that live up there. This "worship" that takes place is a great example of feeling connected with a higher being. The belief that these people share is one that doesn't even have to take into account separate religions. The fact that these people believe someone super important placed themselves on that exact spot is amazing to me. I do have to wonder what the atmosphere is like when they realize that this pilgrimage has the largest population of religious people trekking each season. These people make the journey up the mountain at night in order to see the sunrise from the summit. I look at this and really want to understand the significance of a journey to something. I have always wanted to know what it is like to try my body and spirit with a task that has such a reward or ending point that would bring me to a place of quiet connection. The thought of each of these religions finding peace and harmony in one rock is one that surpasses my level of thought. For an example, Christians believe that when Adam was exiled out of Eden, God made him land on Adam's Peak. This is where he began his life separated from a perfect relationship with the Lord. The other name for this mountain is Sri Pada which means "sacred footprint." This mountain stands for so much more than a person would realize.

Further Thoughts on Mount Sinai-Eric Fesmire

My paper was on Mount Sinai. For this topic, Mount Sinai is a great example of axis mundi and the idea of forbidden space. With the Jewish people's tradition heavily rooted around what occurred on and around this mountain, it must have been an incredible spiritual experience. Interestingly, in Judeo-Christian culture the mountain itself is not as important as what occurred. There is a separation in most people's minds disconnecting the physical environment with the spiritual experience. Ironically, this thinking is probably based on a law given at that very mountain "thou shall not make graven images" (Exodus 20:4) In order to steer clear of this command, it is easy to see how someone might avoid attributing meaning to the environment through which God speaks. But I cannot avoid thinking about why a mountain would have been chosen to give laws.

If I was going to give laws to anybody I would choose something powerful to show my sovereignty and give them a sense of why I have the "right" to give them these laws in the first place. Even if the laws are only there to keep people from harming themselves and others (as I believe the Ten Commandments are) I think I would still do this. Especially if you look at where the Israelites came from: a culture that worshipped many gods, this God almost needed to "prove Himself", or show Himself powerful. What better way to do so then a mountain? I can't think of a natural wonder more powerful and awe inspiring than standing at the bottom of a mountain and looking up. It makes me feel like I am two feet tall and God is so much bigger than me. All of that, without the thunder and the lightning.

Peter Ikeda - Essay Reflection

For my paper I wrote about the Holy Sepulchre (located in Jerusalem that encompasses Golgotha, the site of Jesus' crucifixion, and his possible tomb site). I wanted to write about this spiritual place because of my own spirituality as well as further my own knowledge on the significance behind it. In Christianity the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the single-handed most important moment in history because it is the moment that the price of our sins, death, was paid forever in full thus redeeming our souls to fulfill God's plan for us to live eternally with him. The Holy Sepulchre is not only the place where Christ was crucified but also the site where he was buried and rose again, denying the power of death and illustrating his spiritual tie with God. To define the Holy Sepulchre as a sacred place I utilized Lane's fourth axiom which states that "sacred space always possesses a double impulse" basically describing a push and pull affect due to humankind's reliance on fixed points with meaning. Humans rely on a physical embodiment of their faith for security and reassurance and the Holy Sepulchre for Christians offers substantial support for Christ and his death and resurrection. Its 'push' effect comes from the sheer magnitude of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Holy Sepulchre is a place where people can make a pilgrimage and for Christians it would be an experience one would not forget; a life changing experience of great spiritual magnitude. I also exploited the concepts of numen, the idea of a powerful presence attached to an item or place, and genius loci, the spirit of the place where God is met, to support my thesis that the Holy Sepulchre is a sacred place. As a Christian, the site where Christ, the son of God and one and only savior, died and rose again holds great spiritual significance to me.

Sacred Place Essay Patrick Leegan

I chose to write about Lourdes, France as my sacred place because i have always found the story of St. Bernadette to be interesting. I went to a Catholic school for 9 year that was named St. Bernadettes and we learned a little bit about her but i figured i might as well learn the whole story and try and relate it to Lane's Axioms. Lane writes "God chooses to reveal himself only where he wills" this is exactly what happend in the story of Bernadette, Mary, the mother of Jesus, chooses to reveal herself to a Bernadette in a random grotto in Lourdes. Also Lane's Axiom "sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made sacred" fits perfectly with this place, because it is the constant rituals at this place that continue to make it sacred. I thought it was pretty interesting how Lanes ideas fit in perfectly with this place. At first I was nervous and didnt think i would be able to relate anything Lane said but i looked into his axioms further and realized that it was pretty easy.

Sacred Place Essay

Our assignment was to share a sacred place and the religious significance of that place with the reader while incorporating Lane's phenomenological approach as well as geographical connections to the sacredness of that place. This may seem like quite the task for some people, but I knew exactly what I wanted to share about! When I was a senior in high school, I was given the opportunity to travel with a group of 14 other students and 2 chaperons to Thailand and Laos. It was in Laos that I found this sacred place. We spent 4 days backpacking and trekking through the mountains. One night we stopped at this upland village to stay the night. The whole time we had been walking, we were surrounded by trees everywhere. Upon arrival to this village, everything cleared out and it was this vast dessert like area with a few homes and some animals. These people had no electricity of any kind and probably didn't even know what it was. They had just recently been given candles to be able to see in the dark. They have never seen any westerner step foot in their village ever. This was a place that not even national geographic had been to. Being humbled by the environment they were living in, I couldn't help but feel the sacredness of this place. It wasn't just the people, but rather where these people were. The amazing thing is that they were very happy people too. The kids were constantly playing and having fun and all of the parents were always spending time with each other too. They didn't need electricity to make them happy. They didn't need any kind of materialistic item in their life to find happiness and peace. They needed each other and their connection to the spirits. This village was a village of Hmong people who were animists. They held a Baci Ceremony for us while we were there which involved sacrificing a chicken to the spirits or kwan so that they could be called to be with each of us to protect us on our journey. Although this ceremony didn't really connect with me because of my lack of knowledge about it previously, i could see the importance of this ceremony in the villagers. These people were living their sacred life in their sacred place and were loving it. They were so welcoming to outsiders like us who looked so foreign to them which was so comforting after having trekked for so long. Their place is truly sacred.

Paige Dwyer-Essay and Landscapes of the Sacred (2)

Although I have never personally been to Mecca or taken part in the Muslim pilgrimage, commonly known as the Hajj, I chose to write my first essay on this particular sacred place. It sparked interest partly due to the fact that I have some prior knowledge of this spiritual journey. I attended Catholic school in elementary, middle and high school. In high school, I was taught many other religions in order to broaden my horizon and give me exposure to different cultures. What I found was commonality between other religions and my own. Muslims, for example, take part in the Hajj in order to reflect on the their own personal relationship with Allah and the future that lies ahead. It requires full submission and surrendering of one’s self in order to assimilate with the will of God. I can relate to this practice of devoting one's time and prayers to the one and only God. My family regularly attends mass and emphasizes Christian values and practices at home. In Landscapes of the Sacred, written by Belden C. Lane, the author mentions how a place becomes sacred only when we participate, whether knowingly or unknowingly. The church I attend in many ways is considered to be sacred for me but only when I am truly present. I have sat through many masses and simply just gone through the motions without fully engaging in the worship. On these days, the church cannot be considered a sacred place. For ordinary people Mecca might be considered to just be a city in Islam; whereas, for Muslims it is the holiest city. It is all about participation and engagement in the rituals as well as immersing one’s self into the spiritual experience.

Kayla Delaguila, experiences of a natural place

The other day in class we listened to those songs, the first one was about leaving home, and the emotional baggage that comes with that. I first thought about how for some people the word home and the word nature do not coincide in the least. Nature is home for me, literally and figuratively. My house is placed in the middle of 8 acres of forest. I have to drive 10 minutes to get to the closest gas station. The girl in the song talks about the stream where she went when she was little not having the same effect on her anymore. I can relate to that one hundred percent. I have a creek about ½ mile from my house that my brothers used to go to everyday in the summer… it was quite a hike for me when I was little. I imagined the creek as this semi-magical place, untamed and beautiful. It always made me feel warm and I always had fun. I walked down there this past summer, the trek only took me about 5 minutes, which in itself took some of my magic. What I found when I got there was a barely running creek with overgrown grass and a strange smell. I was very disappointed with this because I was looking forward to feeling the warmth that the place used to give to me. Age brought me reality, and I wish it hadn’t. After that tangent, back to leaving home… I realized when I left for college that yes, I was going to miss my family obviously, and my possessions and actual house, but really what I miss the most is the trees. I miss the breeze and smell of the air. Then I realized that not everyone in the world misses trees when they leave home. Some people don’t have trees at home. Is it easier or harder to leave nature than to leave a house? You can find trees anywhere I guess, while your house is your house, that’s only in one place. Then how could I possibly miss my trees so much? Because they are mine. The trees are part of my identity just as anyone’s house is. Should we as people be that attached to anything physical? A tree is a tree and a house is a house essentially… but that’s the “give up worldly possessions” girl speaking. Hmm.. that’s all!

Geneva Polser - Reflection

I'm not a very religious person. I have been to church probably 13 times in my almost twenty years of life. There is a very spiritual part of me though and I feel as if a lot of these sacred places speak to that. Past generations had their own religious beliefs some very nature oriented and others praying to ten different gods. But all have been able to see the beauty a place may hold. I think finding a beautiful place where you feel you can let yourself go is the most sacred place on earth.
This weekend I was at the beach. Now I know if you turn away from the water your looking at so much civilization and commercialism, yet if you turn back to the water it is such a freeing feeling. To hear the waves crashing and feel the water surrounding your feet for but a fleeting moment before it disappears again to not be distinguished from the rest of it. The knowledge that so many have looked out on this water before maybe feeling the same ariness is thrilling. We as a society do so much to our waterways, pollute them, move them, stop them, drain them, and yet here it still stands. Stronger and bigger then ever before. There is so much we have learned and so much we still have no idea about.
That is a sacred place to me standing on the cusp of any body of water. There is a feeling of a higher power circling through the water, standing on each of the waves and placing every piece of sand. There is a reason our footprints do not last long on the sand of the mighty ocean, there is more to come and our foot prints are but momentary specks on this vast land

Peter Ikeda - My Spirituality in the Wilderness

So in class we've been talking about this idea of a place being sacred and there are many different ways for it to be sacred. Some are chosen by 'God', some become sacred because of it's historic value or emotional connection, and others simply are sacred by ordinary means. Personally I find spirituality in nature all the time. I'm a Christian and so I believe in one God, a creator of the heaven and earth, and father to all life. To have this omniscient yet loving being create such a magnificent world for humankind to exist in is absolutely astonishing to me. The details and intricacies of life like photosynthesis or a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly or how microscopic things like protons and neutrons compose the building blocks that form everything. In this absolute amazement I find spirituality in wilderness. For me, all I have to do is walk outside to find God. Everything about nature, regardless of the weather or condition of it, proves God's existence and love for the world he created. Whether it be through the greenness of the trees or grass, the abundance of life, or the expansive cerulean sky, all it takes a step into nature and I'm completely in my element with God. This in and of itself may not be considered 'sacred' but for me it connects me with my Creator and Father and allows a peace of mind and calmness of my Spirit. What is especially sacred to me about nature in my relationship with Christ is the wind. As I mentioned in my poem, the wind literally empowers my spirit because it has a sacred meaning to me personally. As a kid my best friends and I used to play all sorts of make believe games and in our favorite game we each were assigned a different element. Mine, of course, was wind. It started out as a silly game but as I grew into my relationship with God wind has become a way he reminds me daily of his continual presence in my life. Honestly whenever I feel the wind I feel God's presence. Whenever I have an intense spiritual moment, whether it be by worshipping, warfaring, whatever, I feel a slight breeze around me. Sometimes this breeze is only felt by me (I've asked people around me who haven't felt it when I did) and I truly believe that this is Jesus reminding me of his role in my life: that he is ALWAYS with me and will never forsake me. So for me, nature is a way for me to connect with God but especially through the wind. I've never experience so much freedom or peace in my spirit than through the wind.

Geneva Polser- Landscapes of the Sacred

Lane speaks of how a place takes on whatever occurs there and how one event can forever change that place. I think there is a lot of truth to that, which is why a place that is sacred to many is so amazing. For so many people to feel a connection to one place is mind blowing. Thinking that whatever happened here how ever many years ago still speaks to the generations present shows how powerful a story can be. Not that the story is made up or embellished in order to achieve this point but more that this story leaves someone feeling so enraptured by it that they too feel that strong connection. In the same thought though how do we get that feeling. We can admire a place for what historically has happened there or the beauty of a place but to truly feel a connection based off of past experiences not by our own senses is a powerful human concept.
When lane explains that the Aborigines feel a certain connection with an item that was around them where they were conceived. This item whether rock or plant or other is a spiritual totem for them. How can we feel so connected to a place that has done nothing more then coexist with us. Though that sounds like a skeptics comment it is more of a disbelief in the abilities of human compassion. Is it something deep within our roots that makes us feel like we must be connected to one thing or another for a lifetime? Or is it a social feeling of belonging that pushes us toward these stories? I think there is much to be sought after in both but the connection we can feel is far greater then any nay-sayer that would try to tear us away

Mary Ragan: Connection to Place

As we continued to talk about the connection people make to places I continued to think about my own connection to place. I really feel like I understand this concept. We talked about place being a space with distinct character and all being oriented toward a specific environment. I think this specific environment depends on where you are brought up, where you seek refuge from troubles or find comfort. Or in the case of one of the songs we heard it could depend on what you learn and pick up from your family, culture, and identity. My connection is to the ocean. I have lived about a mile from the beach in NJ my entire life and thought that I just liked the beach because it's where I've always been but I can honestly say I feel an attatchment to it. I witnessed this connection and attachment in myself this past weekend when I went to Virginia Beach to volunteer at the Rock n Roll half marathon. I hadn't seen the ocean since I have been back at school and as we walked up to the boardwalk I saw the ocean and felt what I think was a kind of relief come over me. This sounds corny but I found myself lifting up my arms excited. I was surprised at what I was feeling. It also made me miss home as seeing it made me think of my summer, family and home. I realized that my connection to the ocean grew stronger this summer while I was home. I ran on the boardwalk about every other morning by myself which always made me have such a great start to my day. Sometimes I would hang out down there for a little bit while not a lot of other people were there and just think, pray, reflect or jump in the ocean. I sometimes felt like I craved this solitary swim. It became such a place for ME. I saw the sunrise a couple times. Or I would often just ride by the beach, play music and relax. I also experienced this connection when I was in Africa this summer. As we drove away from one of the villages, all crammed into a truck on the bumpy roads, all I could think was that I wanted to be swimming in the ocean by myself. The village was so poverty stricken and desperate and I just felt so horrible about things. What I feel is hard to put into words I guess but the ocean is a release for me. I connect it to God, reflection, relaxation, solitude, and spirituality. It is a sacred place.

Song Reflection - Peter Ikeda

I really enjoyed listening to the songs in class and then relating them back to what we had read and talked about. I especially liked the second song and how the singer described her life wandering as her "life [was] built on exile far from [her] roots." For me it reminded me of Lane's fourth axiom which describes a "push and pull" affect of the sacredness of land. He notes describes the "lure of sacred space" as the "strongest among homeless, alienated, and estranged." In the song the narrator has been forced from the place of her roots and describes a constant longing for her home. This separation from her home, or place of her roots, causes the singer's soul to forever hold a longing within it; an incompleteness that can only be fulfilled by being reunited with that sacred place. Lane points out that "human existence is heavily dependent on fixed points" because they "enable [us] to 'dwell' in the world with meaning." He concludes in his fourth axiom that a sacred place is necessary for us to be at peace within ourselves because it fulfills that constant longing for purpose in us. This place can be sacred in a religion or sacred for an individual but either way it connects with that individual and completes an aching soul or broken heart allowing us to "live in the world with meaning." I thought this was really cool because it reminds me of my grandparents. I'm half Japanese and my grandparents are 100% Japanese. They were born and raised here in America but during World War 2 they were removed from their homes and relocated to the internment camps when the hostilities towards the Japanese were high. I think this relocation in their lives, the removal from their home into a hostile environment caused them the same pain and longing as the narrator in the song. My grandparents have lived in the same house for about 50 years and they're at that stage in life where a huge house can become more a hindrance than a home. A few years ago my grandparents had to make a very hard decision: to move out of the place they had finally been able to call their own, with memories spanning almost 5 decades, or move to a place foreign to them in order to cater to their age and capabilities. Honestly I think it was one of the hardest decisions of their life. I remember my grandfather especially being touchy to the situation because it was so painful for him to think about having to leave his home. During the period where they were deciding he acted very strange. He was quite, his answers were abrupt and at times abrasive, and he just seemed to be in a constant state of despair. I believe that in this instance Lane's idea of human existence being dependent on sacred places, especially to those who have been estranged or alienated. My grandparents did decide to move and I think it was for the best but it was very heart-wrenching for them because they were leaving the place they had finally been able to call home.

Kayla Delaguila: outside reading

So I am reading this book, “Global Issues" by Michael Snarr for my government class, he wants us to catch up on about 20 years of modern politics. Anyway, I was reading all these stats about how the world is growing, including that over 200,000 people are added to the world's totally population every day. What? Does anyone else not believe this? I know it's true because it's cited by the census, but goodness. With that many people in the world how are we ever going to find the space to sit and have our sacred place find us as Lane would say. There was this stat about how in the 90s more children died from diarrhea than all the people who died due to armed conflict since WWII. Makes you re-think all the complaining we do about health care in the United States. Lane talked about, and I'm speaking from my perspective of what he said, how in America we seem to under appreciate nature and the sacred places that it has given us. We don't want to wait for a sacred place to find us; we would rather make a fake sacred place in Disney Land. A little cynical? Maybe. But how can Americans sit and take all that we have for granted day after day, from our health care system to the simple beauty of the quiet nature? Is there something we can do to help the world and leave our little North American shell? This is what I get for reading a book about sacred lands and a government book at the same time... I bet you couldn't guess if I'm Democratic or Republican.

Samantha Anderson- The Now

At the end of my senior year of high school, I went down to Florida to visit my best friend. Since it was Florida, the beach was basically her back yard. Are days would be spent laying on the beach of chilling in the gulf’s waters. Specifically where she lived there were a ton of little bridges that had canal water below. We were driving to the beach one day, when we just pulled over on the bridge and decided to jump in. At that very moment my heart was petrified, however I knew an opportunity like this would not arrive again. Right as we jumped off there was that moment of “now.” Nothing else was happening, no other thoughts were racing through my mind, I was just in the air falling living in the “now.” It wasn’t until I hit the water and came back to the surface that I even realized what I had just done. I wonder is there any other way that you can create this moment other that bridge jumping, bungie jumping, or sky diving? Why is it only when you are in a state of free fall that you are in the “now” moment? Is it possible with discipline to train our minds to find that same feeling while at rest?

James Joseph: Personal Choice (1) First Day Poem

The sky is vast, the land is flat
This is the only place I've wanted to be at.
With trees all around, and professor in sight
It's about time to start this ULLC right?
With words and essays, I will show
The beauty of forests and lands covered in snow.
So believe me now, as I say:
The time to start writing is...today!

I have always found beauty in the unchanged, disordered essence of nature. Whether it's the forest in my back yard, the lawn outside of Potomac South, or the tundras of Alaska, I love everything that nature has to offer. I think that sometimes we as humans tend to overlook the smaller things, the smaller beauties in life. And if we take the time to notice these things, to enjoy them, and to notice that we as humans are as much a part of the world as a blade of grass is, I feel that life will be so much more to us. Firmly put, I love nature: The tightening grip of the wilderness as you crack open the door to nature is incomparable to any other feeling in the world. I am looking forward to learning, observing, and loving everything from this class: And hopefully because of that I'll be able to work for a good grade as well!

Geneva Polser: First Day Poem

Class scheduling allows
Geneva to make
scheduling mistakes
Wilderness is a place
free from social constructs
like the education race

Wilderness and camping for days on end has never been something that I have put on the top of my priority list. I get eaten alive by bugs and thats typically whats stopping me from going in the summer time, and I'm always cold so the winter isn't so good either. I do however enjoy going on hikes and just observing the nature around me. I think a perfect sunset on the water is one of the most spiritual things one can find. I think in our society if we take a week off to go 'find ourselves' in the wild or what not we get those weird looks. Yet part of the reason one would want a lone time is to get away from those kind of social constructs. The concept that everyone must follow a certain path filled with certain goals so as to be living the American dream. I think this class will help break down some of those barriers atleast for those in this class.