In Lane's Landscapes of the Scared, he describes four axioms for study of scared place--
Sacred place is not chosen, it chooses,
Sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary,
sacred place can be tred upon without being entered,
the impulse of sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal.
Of these four axioms, the third stood out the most to me. Lane states, "One can be there and yet not be there at the same time" (29). The presence of the body does necessarily mean presence of the soul within a place. The term 'genius loci' is mentioned, referring to the spirit of the place. I believe this explanation of sacred place. If one defines a place as 'sacred' then they will feel a connection or sense of protection from the place. If, however, the place is only sacred to a specific few, outsiders will not feel the same emotions when at the place. It is all in how you perceive the place, how you feel about it.
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