Emma Byers: Landscapes of the Sacred 1

    When studying the ideas behind sacred places in the modern world, a common question may arise. What defines a sacred place? Is it a place one gains power or divine right? Or is it merely a place someone can go to escape and be one with the universe to find their inner peace. In Belden C. Lanes book Landscapes of the Sacred he notes that a sacred place is a “storied place” meaning that the land in which a group recognizes as sacred became that way through ancient stories told for generations. The more powerful the experience in the stories told about that particular area, the more sacred and holy it becomes. It was stories that created the sacred image of Jerusalem, the Blarney stone, even the fountain of youth (though no one has found it, it is still viewed as a sacred place to many cultures).