Block; The Four Axioms


Lane describes the four guiding axioms in Landscapes of the Sacred that help to understand the character of sacred place. The first axiom states that sacred place is not chosen, it chooses itself. Lane provides an example of this to be walking in the woods and seeing a deer but knowing that there was a presence even before he arrived to find the deer. The second axiom states that sacred place is an ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary. Lane provides an example of this as land becoming sacred because of the ritual act performed there. The Alamo is an ordinary place made sacred because of the people who go there to commemorate it and pay their respects. The third axiom states that a sacred place can be tread upon without being entered. Lane provides an example of this as walking past the same river all the time until you suddenly now see a distinct clearing of holy ground. This can be explained by the fact that one sacred experience can change the whole meaning of the place. The fourth axiom states that the impulse of sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal. Lane provides an example of this by describing that God is never confined to a single locale as he describes local versus universal.

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