I feel that I have several sacred spaces, which forced me to make a choice. I love the inviting nooks of my bedroom, the calmness of a white-clothed table at The Thai Garden, and the chilly floors of the fiction room at Keene High School. Above all of those, one stood out for me. On the Ashuelot River bike trail there are little alcoves next to the river with benches in them. Mine is the furthest down, almost directly behind the hospital. It feels sacred because you rarely ever see another person there-- it feels like you're detached from the modern world and exist as part of the forest. I don't really go here by myself for safety reasons, but it is a wonderful place for quiet conversation and reflection. It molds itself perfectly to any sentiment, whether that is sadness or a joyful picnic.
When sitting here, one can see just a little bit of the river, a field, and the forest surrounding them. Occasionally a rogue homeless person is spotted, but they disappear as quickly as a small animal would. It is calm, sometimes eerily so. The ground is covered in little pebbles, which I like to throw and try to hit the trees so they bounce back to me. The bench is chained to the ground, which adds to its sacredness because it feels permanent. I think age makes places feel more important because they hold so many stories.
Today, we honor the spaces and rituals of ancient peoples (like the Aborigines) because they existed for so much longer than our American civilization has. Places definitely have emotional value for people because they give setting to our daily lives, religion, and ritual. If a church did not have the connotation of being the house of God, it would just look like a building. If the cave containing pre-historic art was not part of an ancient ritual, it might just be a hole with some old paintings. It's not my bench that is sacred-- it is the way I feel around it.
This is really well written. I like the descriptive language and can visualize the space but, most importantly, your attachment to the place. I also appreciate that you don't go there often, but invite others into your space to make it feel more secure. My only criticism is that your post didn't reference the reading or Right vs. Left brain. Overall, however, I enjoyed it. Well done, Emily!
ReplyDeleteThis is very descriptive and does a great job of giving the reader a taste of what you feel in each of your sacred spaces. The title really grabbed my attention but was misleading. I picked yours because I thought you would touch on homeless people and whether or not they had sacred space. Everyone has somewhere important to them, homeless or not, and I was interested in your thoughts on tha. The only time homeless people were mentioned was when you compared them to small animals. The last paragraph was really well done though. I like how you say it is not the spaces themselves as much as the feelings surrounding them.
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