James Joseph: Landscape of the Sacred (1)

Lane's first axiom, which states "Sacred place is not chosen, it chooses", is one I've always found intriguing, even before I knew viewed it as an axiom. For while we, as humans, can determine if a place is sacred or not, it is not through our intentional actions that a place becomes sacred. It's usually a place that we frequent often, one that sticks out to us, but only us, in a special way. This axiom reminds me of the first house I used to live in until the age of 6. While the house wasn't too splendid or extraordinary itself, there were many places around it that stick out in my memory: Places which were sacred to me. The first place that comes to mind was my neighbors backyard. Our neighbors owned a dalmatian, and because of such we were not allowed into their yard. Our parents ended up creating a 'taboo' of sorts, in that we were punished if we were found in our neighbors yard. But of course this only caused me to become more intrigued by the place. On multiple occasions I found myself on the other side of our neighbor's fence. And while I can't definitively remember how their yard was set up, the entire ritual of getting over the fence and not getting caught made the place sacred to me (as well as to my brothers). It was not a conscience decision of mine to make that place special or sacred, rather the place, and the situation around it, pulled me in: That is how sacred place chooses.