Sacred Space

          When thinking of sacred space you need to think of a person's point of view. For me my sacred space is my room. Anytime I need to go somewhere to escape the world my room is the best place to go.  Turning on the music in my room helps me to tune into my own personal world. I am able to imagine things that will never be and I am able to reflect on things that have been. I always imagine worlds where I am some character that I have seen and imagine what that character does is what I am doing.
         Whatever happens in my life, I know that I will always have a place that I can go to and call my own and be able to cut My self off from the physical world and everything else that I do not want to deal with in my life. I love being able to have an escape and I am pretty sure that everyone else shares my opinion.

No place is sacred

       Everyone has their own sacred space which can range from one's room, to a favorite club, or even their church. Yet, their are others, like myself, who would consider their sacred space something that is not even exactly defined. For me, I would consider my sacred space to be the places that I go through. For those who don't already know, I run; not only because I do cross country but also because I like to. So, I consider the places that I run through to be sacred. I know its not exactly a place set in stone, but does it have to be? Isn't a sacred space someplace that means something to you, and isn't one's passion something that means something to you as well? Aren't you supposed to feel safe in your sacred space ? Isn't it a place where you may be able to think things through? Isn't it someplace that you are always willing to go to? Well, that, and more, is what I feel when I run around the place. I strongly believe that where I run is sacred, not in the since that the place itself is sacred but what I feel when I go there. It's difficult to explain but no matter where I run off to, my mind soothes itself whether I am in the woods, Main Street, or even on the track. It is almost like the Aboriginies and how they find everything sacred; it doesn't matter where it is, but one can find peace and serinity inside his or her mind anywhere. Like the Aborigines, we could be able to find natural beauty anywhere; we can find the meaning of creation in all things. So, where I run, I can be able to determine how everything can be sacred within myself.
         Many things go on in my head when I run. For example, to the right brain point of view, one of the things I do is that I am picturing myself in other shoes. I don't just mean people I see when I run, but as a animal, plant, rock, or river. I think of how the world might have changed for them, what issues are on their mind, and how it views life. Another thing I would do is picture a scene of me doing something as stated in "the Spell of the Sensuous." These things may range from achieveing goals, to winning arguments, or even how I would expect an something to turn out.
         Left hemisphereically, it is rather difficult to determine how my mind works. The best example would probably be me thinking about running in my cross country. Since the left brain is focused on doing, I can determine that it is thinking about how I would strike the ground with my foot, the rythem of my breathing, the pace at which I go at, and the paths in which I take. Now, I usually do this almost automatically, but when I do, I am amazed on how complex one could make running sound. There is so much order and  perciseness in running that its almost mind boggleing, such as focusing on staying on your toes, pattern of breathing, how often and quickly you step on each foot, and how long you think every turn you make will take.
         I cant exactly say that many past cultures had the same mindset I have on a sacred space. The Aboriginies may be able to for they too find sacredness in all the land, but they do have certain locations that they call upon their ancestors. I could more likely be like the San because of how I can enter a sacred state in my mind and be able to carry my thoughts anywhere just as they did. Though there are some examples, most culture like to have a place where they can gather and worship and consider a sacred place. I am not against that, truthfully I find it intregueing, but there are just some people out there, like myself, who just don't seem to feel as though they can find a specific location sacred.

Sacred Space, A Friends Face

          Many people have a specific place that is sacred to them. Whether that be a church, shrine, religious place, or just a quiet area to feel comfortable and relax, all these places can be sacred to a person, or many peoples. But for me, my sacred space depends on the people with me. Friends, family, loved ones, they all affect the sanctity of the place I'm in. A dining room is just a room with chairs and a table without a family to fill it. A classroom is just a room of work without friends to interact with. For another example, this past weekend I was digging a trench in the middle of the woods in Nelson. without having two of my good friends there, I would have hated being there and probably have gotten nothing done. With the presence of my friends, that clearing of trees out in the woods, instead of being a quiet, hot, and hardworking environment, was a friendly, talkative and enjoyable place that I felt at home at. Being with friends and people I like, is my sacred place. The abstractness of my sacred space since it's not physical would be more left brain, while the feeling of being in a sacred space might be more right brain because of the emotional and face recognizing part of the right brain. This concept of sacred space differs from the sacred spaces we saw in the films in class. The Australian aborigines had sacred burial grounds that they considered sacred space, the early Europeans has caves full of cave paintings, and the early people of the middle east had that large complex of monoliths with carvings in them that could only be seen by firelight at night. so to sum up my sacred space, unlike the early peoples of the world relies more on the people in the space than of the space itself.

My Sacred Space: The Mindset of Adoration

I've been dreading this post for a while and have spent most of tonight staring at a blank "create a post" screen.  The problem isn't that I don't understand the assignment or that I intentionally put it off, but that I want to be as real as I can and, to do this, I have to face things I've previously supressed.  I can't remember the last time I've felt content.

Last year, this post might have been easy.  I loved Drama Club.  This year, all of the "popular kids" whose judgement I could avoid at rehearsal took lead roles in the show.  Our director, who was caring and understanding, was replaced by one who seems judgemental and seems to care more about his vision for the show than those trapped in his blind spot.  I was happy with youth group in middle school and freshman year, but our youth minister left after 9th grade and none have stayed longer than a year since.  Sure, I have friends and acquaintances, but I've never had a best friend - someone I could tell everything.  My family loves the me they know, but I live in the constant fear of being disowned by half of my family because of my religion.  The other half of my family just never seems to get it.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with some 9th and 10th graders and, specifically, to talk to them about love.  When asking them what they loved, their answers were expected: running, friends, music.  One girl, however, surprised and moved me.  Her answer?  Adoration.  For those of you unfamiliar with adoration, I've uploaded images - one from Google, the other from a retreat I attended last summer.  Basically, the Eucharist (which, through transubstantiation has become the body of Christ) is placed in a Monstrance (pretty gold "holder") and you pray before it.  It sounds hokey, I know.  I didn't understand it, either, until recently.  I realized, though, that the mindset of Adoration is my Sacred Space.  It is when I'm knelt before the Monstrance that silence is totally comfortable.  I feel loved and accepted because all that matters is that the God of the Universe would rather die than spend Eternity without me.  Adoration, to me, is timeless.  I can be with 3,000 other people and feel like the only one in the room - no one else matters.  The size of the room, the number of people, the noise, none of it is important because it's about God and myself.

My Sacred Space is almost entirely right brained.  I treasure time spent in Adoration because of my faith and it is a non-temporal experience for me.  I have had friends experience, during Adoration, being "slain in the Spirit" which is reminiscent of the trance-like state of the San.  Those slain in the Spirit physically appear to pass out.  I've never experienced it, but I've talked to others and they spoke of recieving messages to people from God.  This likely sounds strange to most, but I can say with confidence that I feel most comforted and content during Adoration.

Peace in the Sun

As I hear the lapping of the warm water against rocks at my feet, feel the sun on my back, and look out at the mountains and trees surrounding me, I instantly relax. When my best friend's family bought a cabin on Island Pond in Stoddard, I was excited but then didn't think much of it. After my first visit I knew it would become a special place to me, and now I realize that it is my sacred space. I find a peace of mind there that I can't anywhere else. I am able to reflect more on myself when I am alone but even when there are people around me, the atmosphere still clears my mind and I can endless comfort. Like the Aborigines, my sacred space is in nature, but it has no religious connotation for me. Although I am not the most outdoorsy person in the world, it is almost impossible for me to not be happy when I am outside and in nature. I find that water calms and comforts me better than a blanket, and the beautiful landscape around me helps me reflect. No matter the weather, my mood, or any circumstance I can always find myself sitting on my favorite rock looking out across the lake.

Unlike the Aborigines and other prehistoric cultures we have learned about who all had a common sacred space where they would connect with the Gods, I do not associate my sacred space with a God or any religious aspects. I was brought up in a house that was not religious and I do not have any strong feelings or connections with a religion which is probably why I do not find a sacred state of mind thinking of one. However, my space could be shared with another person like the prehistoric groups. For all I know ten other people could sit on my favorite rock and find their sacred space within. I do not gather with others and perform rituals but that does not mean someone else does not share my sacred place with me.

I am a moderately right brained person so I think my sacred space has a lot of right brain aspects to it. The logistics of water being calming is more left brained but I think I am able to find such peace at this place because of my personal memories. The memories that come to me when I am this state of mind are not all from the lake. The mindset that comes over me when I'm in my sacred space allows me to look back at so memories, and even the horrible ones do not seem as bad when I am there. Because I have found harmony in my mind I am able to look back and reflect, and hopefully learn from the mistakes and challenges I've gone through.

Sacred Apartment

A place I consider sacred would be my friend’s dad’s apartment. I met her freshman year and maybe because we didn’t know anything about each other, we felt it was safe to share everything. Now we are best friends and if anything ever happens in our lives we schedule a sleepover to discuss it. It isn’t like we give each other particularly insightful or helpful advice, it is just a space where nothing is a secret and we are completely comfortable. I am not a very open person so this is the only space I really express real emotions in. It’s always warm and she has bunk beds so when I sleep over I’m never condemned to a couch or floor. She’s a vegetarian and generally shares the same feelings towards eating healthy so I never feel gross after living at her house for a weekend.

Having her dad around isn’t weird. Normally at friend’s houses we go to our rooms to escape from parents, but at her apartment there is never any awkwardness and I always feel welcome.  I traveled with her and her dad around Greece so he is almost a second father to me. One of my favorite memories was with my friend and her father on a beach in Greece. She doesn’t plan on going to college and was home- schooled for part of her high school career, so college and grades never seem to make it into our conversations. Being there doesn’t take any effort either. Sometimes you have to convince your exhausted self on a Friday night to leave your cozy living room to go be social, but at her apartment, if there isn’t anything to talk about; we pop in one of her Harry Potter movies, eat snacks, and go to bed. We don’t have to engage in conversation or a real activity to spend time together. The location of her apartment makes it feel like there is a barrier between us and the responsibilities of the world. There is the initial entry which is locked, then hallways, and then, also locked and nestled in the middle of the building, my sacred space.

The unspoken knowledge that we can say and express anything to each other is very left brained. Our ritual of always updating each other first before we begin something else in left brained, yet at the same time unstructured, and therefor right brained, because there is never any pressure to do a real activity. Another left brained characteristic is listening to the problems and drawing conclusions on it. We always try think up solutions for each other as best we can even if we do not really know what we’re talking about.

In Abram’s, The Spell of the Sensuous, he explained how in ancient times before Israel, the Hebrew were always being booted out of places and therefor made the Torah their sacred space.  They took it with them wherever they went so when they were told to leave it wasn’t as devastating. In this way our sacred spaces are completely different. They created theirs and brought it with them wherever they went. Mine doesn’t even belong to me. If they decide to move to a house there is nothing I can do about it and my sacred space is gone. Perhaps their new house could become a sacred space but perhaps not. My sacred space is rooted to the ground and guarded by two locked doors I don’t have the keys to. In Australia’s Aborigines, their sacred space was mountains and caves where ceremonies are held and the dead are buried. My sacred space has no religious connections. Because our generation is less involved with religion than those of past generations, our sacred spaces are less evolved around religion and more around personal emotional desires such as solitude or self-expression. This makes it hard to compare our sacred spaces to past ones people possessed. Either way a sacred space is anything, one, or place that someone finds important for whatever reason. It is a completely personal preference and everybody should respect each other’s.

Little Peter & the Big Desk

My desk is a sacred space. I have the chair set on the lowest setting, leaving the armrests about two inches below the pull-out table part of the desk, a setting which centers me and allows me to recline without the fear of falling backward. I have a picture of myself on my first day of preschool wearing a red, oversized gap sweatshirt and a blue L.L. Bean backpack. My lips are parted, and I was not doubt asking my mother a question. Little Peter reminds me to stay idealistic and curious, even when I feel jaded. Also, my desk aura is not complete without the dull hum and fluorescent glow of my laptop. Everything about this space is mine and it feels like home, regardless of whether it is covered incense ash or as tidy as I am compulsive.

The most left-brain aspect of my desk space is definitely the chair; its height and central location are both quantified values which I arrived at by experimenting and linear thought. My laptop is kind of the meeting ground for the left and right brain. One hand, my computer is full folders which follow linear paths of categorizing my files, and my dash is located on the left side of the screen so the eye moves left to right, when opening applications, much like reading (western texts). On the other hand, I drag random images and music onto my desktop and then sometimes just click through it looking for something that gives me an “all-at-once” sense of happiness. But, I would say that Little Peter is probably the most right -brained part of my desk. It almost doesn’t feel like I was ever him, but rather he is a sub-four foot amalgamation of everything good in me, and I can’t explain why but I definitely feel it.

My sacred space is much more similar those of my classmates than to the sacred spaces of the people/cultures we have studied in class. Firstly, my sacred space is, as far as I know, unique to me, which contrasts the sacred spaces of indigenous people. For example, the Aborigines would likely consider their burial grounds a sacred space and this is very much a communal space. Also, my space differs from the Aborigines or the San of Africa we studied because it is indoors. Sacred places where aboriginal shaman tell stories and interact with natural cycles take place outdoor, not in an isolated indoor space. However, my space is similar in that I have a lot of very right brain experience here, such as moments of spirituality or appreciation of music, much like the peoples we have explored in class.