Daniel Blakely Landscapes of the Sacred 1

Lane’s Four Axioms is possibly one of the most eye opening points in the beginning of this class. Each of the axioms provides the landscape to have its own personality and power. The one axiom that stands out in my eyes is the first. From the first axiom it is understand that the landscape is not providing the experience but rather giving. With that I mean that it is not that a person comes into an area and sees things that they believe are sacred. Instead the landscape must decide to provide the person with the sacred experience. This power that the landscape has over the individual is a concept that I never thought of at all. Coming into class I simply thought of a sacred experience as a moment that a person has with a landscape, but now I realize that a sacred experience is a shared opportunity between the landscape and the individual.