Emily Cole: Landscapes of the Sacred Chapter 1, Axioms for the Study of Sacred Place

M. Scott Momaday’s poetic passage that opens up this chapter contains ten relevant verbs to Lane’s research. These verbs are as follows, in the order in which they appear-concentrate, give, look, wonder, dwell, imagine, touch, listen, imagine, and recollect. These actions may be applied to nature as Lane intends, through four specific axioms, or sayings, through which we can more fully understand nature. The first axiom is that sacred place is not chosen, it chooses, which the author then exemplifies through a story where he was “found” by a clearing in Mississippi. While he literally may have come upon this place, it was really the place that chose him, because he experienced such a transforming period. The second axiom is that sacred place is ordinary place made extraordinary. Here Lane explains the meaning of a loca sacra, or sacred place, and while it may not be remarkable in any obvious sense, it is home to certain rituals or events which make it special. Lane’s third axiom is that sacred place can be tred upon without being entered. This axiom personally gives me the most grief in understanding, but that’s to be expected when Lane relates it to states of consciousness, something mysterious in itself. The fourth axiom is that the impulse of sacred place is centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal. Lane compares his office in St. Louis to his specified clearing in the woods (p. 19), as well as other “river places” that continually draw him away from his place in the real world. He states that each place, whether it is local or universal, somehow finds a way to distribute God’s presence in his life. By understanding the theories of these axioms, or even one axiom, someone can understand that sacred place will reveal itself in its own way and provide comfort or an idea of God.