The last idea that stood out to me in Landscape was the metaphor of the spider and how it resembles the symbolism of a sacred place. Lane discusses how a spider is know for his web-spinning. The webs are ambiguous to understand, as are many human concepts such as philosophy, theology, and psychology. Also, although these webs are intricately constructed, they are not delicate. They become concrete forms and make live experiences, both in the process of building and their inevitable capture of prey.
As Lane says, the spider and his web, much like the symbolism in a sacred place, can be admired and awed while also feared. The spider spinning a web is also a demonstration of how symbols are made and then interpreted later. We can look at a web and wonder its purpose, how it was created, what fate it will bring to some, and how we feel about it, just like how we think about a symbolic place and its affect on us.
Lane finishes this by saying “we must attend to the interior operations of the symbolic life and to the larger cultural web,” which to me say we must acknowledge the building blocks and origins of a sacred place so we can recognize how its symbolism and history impact the bigger picture today.
- Emily Schulz -
No comments:
Post a Comment