Chipotle.

This is the last blog which I am required to write on any free choice topic. Therefore, as promised to a fellow student, this blog will be about why Chipotle is one of my sacred places.

I love Chipotle. That should be made clear first.

Sure I love the food, and trust me, I could go on for hours about it, so for that reason I’m going to avoid the easy tangent. Instead, I’m going to relate what I have learned in ULLC thus far to my personal sanctuary.

The main themes I feel like Redick has discussed are the ideas of transcendence, pneumaticity, genius loci, axis mundi, and communitas.

Well, Chipotle IN FACT has all of these. I promise.

Let’s first talk about the transcendence. To me, to deem something as “transcendent,” I believe it has to surpass the ordinary, beyond the range of human experience. Chipotle brings this to the table, and not just with its glorious, glorious food which transcends all prior flavors my taste-buds have met. But the whole atmosphere of a Chipotle restaurant is what makes the place a heavenly experience. The atmosphere in general is what actually ties the pneumaticity, genius loci, axis mundi, and communitas together! It dotes a permanent sense of comfort, warmth, and personally, a severe case of nostalgia.

The axis mundi, or the spirit of a place, is what I first feel when I enter Chipotle. I feel the eagerness of the servers, and anticipation of hungry customers, and the joy from all living beings in the building, their emotions influencing the air I breathe as I walk in. Rushing excitement is provoked by the servers while the served encourage a sense of satisfaction and gratification. It’s noticeable: the only feeling anyone has in a Chipotle is happiness. People. Love. Chipotle. Ask anyone! There is something else besides the burritos that we are feeding off of and although unknown, it possesses a powerful pneumaticity, drawing us all back on a frequent basis.

Chipotle’s sense of communitas is the next, and perhaps the most significant factor, making this industry transcendent. The community is the friendliest I have experienced. Not only do the employees’ genuine smiles and interest in their customers make me feel welcome and at home, the silent yet understood public consensus, “WE LOVE CHIPOTLE,” has me bonded to all other fanatics sitting with me in the restaurant. I feel a connection to all people and things in Chipotle restaurants, and acknowledged treaty of peace signed at the door by all men, women, and children.

Chipotle is leminal, a genius loci of sorts. To me, it truly is a transition site between two worlds. In one of its bordering worlds is our society on the outside of its doors. Where all people act as normally expected, including arguments, violence, and starvation. The other world Chipotle sits on is a world where peace is the norm. All people are content and have an understanding of their purpose with one another. Chipotle shows our society’s conflicted inhabitants a preview of another world. When we go inside, for that hour or so, it is apparent that all people leave their troubles on the other side of the building, and we agree to a care and guilt-free meal among others who can feel the same power and draw Chipotle has to offer. That to me is a transcendent environment.

- Emily Schulz -