Landscapes of the Sacred mentions a place near 4 corners as being extremely sacred and important to local Native American tribes. Yet what comes to my mind when I think about the place is a series of "Obscene" details from my own personal experience of the area: Gift shops selling cheap bastardized versions of Navajo art, long lines at the restrooms, and boisterous American tourists (my parents included).
Perhaps this is the true essence of such a sacred place: a spot of tension between the sacred and the profane. Perhaps this reflects one of Lane's axioms: that Sacred place can be tread upon without being entered.
I wonder how many people leave that place with souvenir T-Shirts, not knowing that they could have gotten something much more out of it. It makes me sad.
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