Alex Clark: Four Axioms from Lanscape of the Sacred

The first of Belden C. Lane’s four guiding axioms is stated: “sacred place is not chosen, it chooses (Landscapes of the Sacred, p. 19).” This means that you cannot simply walk up to a place and declare it sacred to yourself, some sacred event must occur there. Such an event would force you to recognize it as sacred. Lane gives the example of his search for an axis mundi in the woods by a lake, and he steps into a clearing, struck by sight. He was not looking for this particular place, but it made itself sacred to him. There is also a biblical tale that displays the first axiom: A man laid his head to rest on a rock and awoke from his dreams the next morning knowing that the place he slept was special. The man knew it as a place where heavens spoke to earth, marked a rock with oil, and it was sacred. Lane’s second axiom suggests that “sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary (p. 19).” This means that a place does not have to be overly beautiful or different, it is the ritual or event that has taken place there that makes it sacred. For example, we discussed in class a body of water in Scotland that seemed ordinary, but became sacred because a sword was thrown in it to signify a great peace. The third axiom asserts that “sacred place can be tred upon without being entered (p. 19).” This essentially means that you can be in a sacred place physically, but not truly experience it or have it be sacred to you. One could walk right through an ancient sacred Native American worship ground and never realize it. The fourth and last axiom says that “the impulse of sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal (p. 19).” In my opinion this means that sacred place is its own local place, but it holds a place in individuals, and it holds a place in the universe as being sacred. For example, a stream might be sacred to a group who live by it. It feeds them and gives them drink, it cleanses them, and they do ritual there. That same site may also be sacred to a visitor or separate individual who encounters it differently. That place also becomes a part of the universe, and being sacred, becomes a part of the universe of the sacred as well. Sacred place has roots, it has a tree, and its seeds may be spread far and wide as well. These axioms serve as a precious guide for all those on pilgrimage or in search of the sacred. I am slightly confused by some of their wording, but I understand them in my own way. I appreciate the set up of the axioms, and I think they are a great way for Lane to start out his book. It is a great concept to give guidelines for something as precious as the search for the sacred, and Lane does well in the structure and message of the axioms. I hope that I get to use them throughout my life as I search for spiritual meaning and the sacred.