Becki Landscapes of the Sacred 1

On page 19 of the book, Lane gives four axioms to help students understand American sacred space. These “basic, self-evident principles” are what is behind the religious aspects of the sacred places. While we can use all four to help understand sacred place, do we really need all four in order to completely understand a place as sacred? Does the place have to be ordinary? Are not some of the greatest sacred places unordinary even extraordinary with or without rituals? For example, one of the largest mountains on the West Coast is Mount Rainier. It is also a sacred place. Does it have to be ritually made extraordinary or can its sheer size make it extraordinary.