Kelly Hayes, Axioms

Lane uses four axioms to descriebe sacred place. First, he says sacred place is not chosen, it chooses. It is a place constructed by the imagination that makes us see God only where he chooses to reveal himself. It is a fixed place of power seen only by those who it wants to see it. An example of this is noted when Lane explains his search for axis mundi on the slopes above the Mississippi. As he is giving up hope, he comes across a clearing in the woods he believed to have chosen him and made him go from frantic to calm. Secondly, he claims sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary. It is a place where rituals are performed and makes it sacred. An example of this axiom is how the Native Americans erected Kivas in sacred location as a place of communal meeting and rituals. Also, Lane discusses how he had a ritual of silence in his clearing with is describes by this axiom. Thirdly, a sacred place can be tred upon without being entered. This means one can walk through a sacred place without even realizing it. An example of this is when Lane walked through the clearing several times before noticing its holiness, only at a given point in time from a specific perception. The last axiom argued that the impulse of sacred place is both local and universal. One can focus on a particular place as their sacred place to interact with God or can broaden their view to realize that God is not in just one specific place. An example of this axiom is observed when Lane is distinguishing between his office and the clearing in the woods.