Nathan Bloom - Class Reading #6

Belden Lane writes about the mask of the Holy in his book, Landscapes of the Sacred. The concept of a philosophical mask being on something in nature is funny, but his argument stands that many ordinary things that we see everyday hold greater meaning or when experienced in a different way can be seen in a new light. Lane gives the example of a tourist who goes back to a place but cannot capture the feeling or experience that he had there before. Lane says that sometimes memory of a place is better than actually going there again. When you think of a game you playes or a movie you saw or house you visited when you were very young and then to do that same thing again and its never as good as you remembered it. Often times I do that and think to myself, How could I have even enjoyed this as a child. Lane is very right; holding on to a memory is far more powerful and a better experience than repeating whatever it is you are remembering.