Nicolas Maxim: The Recognition of Ordinary Places as Holy

Lanes second axiom states that "sacred place is ordinary, ritually made extraordinary" (Lane, 2002, p. 19). Most would think that if a landscape was going to be extraordinary and sacred that it would be very different and magnificent compared to the terrain around it. However, Lane argues that this is not always the case, and in-fact, has not been a common theme among many religions. Instead, religions have chosen or ritually made sacred the common and ordinary places which have nothing numinous about them. Lane gives the example of Bethlehem Ephrathah, which was considered just an ordinary town before Christianity came about. Now it is considered the to be a place of messianic hope where Jesus himself was raised in Nazareth. (Lane, 2002, p. 25) Why do some ordinary places get chosen over others? What makes on ordinary place more sacred than another? Elaide talks about he the "most primative of all sacred places known in history of religions is archetypal, simple landscape of stones, water, and trees" (Lane, 2002, p. 25). I feel that historical events are what links these places to sacredness. The rituals associated with them can be seen as the ceremonies performed from year to year in honor of those who died or walked the land. Sometimes the most extraordinary things are seen in places that people would least expect to see them. It would be to ordinary if something magnificent occured on an already magnificent mountain or peak. However, when something occurs in a place that is not grand or beautiful it is often seen as more sacred than the mountain or glacier that everyone sees as sacred.

Somewhere along the road history has altered the mindsof those who currently live to now only see something grand or magnificent as sacred. Why is this? I feel that this is the case because with all the new technology humans now have no imagination. Humans now spend little time outside,so therefore they don't become close with nature. Without spending time with nature the only places that may seem sacred to them are ones that everyone speaks of like the high peaks of Everest and Mount Fuji, the great powers of the Wailing Wall, or the high walls of the Grand Canyon. While some are considered sacred and some are not, they are all places of aww which is the only thing that matters to the 21 century human.

Nicolas Maxim