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.