[at-l] Religious meanings

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> I'm new to the list and hoping to do the Trail next
> spring. I'm a grad student in Religious Studies at the
> University of California, Santa Barbara. My dream is
> to write my dissertation about the Trail. I was
> wondering if any of you had ideas or stories for me. I
> was originally thinking of looking at nature/the Trail
> as sacred space.

Kelly,

I'm finally starting to catch up...

For me, a sacred space is any space that calls my soul to join in communion
with the universe.  Such spaces speak to me of connection, rejuvenation and
hope.  They encourage me to ask hard questions and to become still enough to
hear the answers.  They call me to participate and to share.

Rebecca Wells wrote a fictional novel called (amusingly enough) Little
Altars Everywhere. There is a section, written from a child's point of view,
that speaks richly to me about the subject of sacred spaces:  "Sometime
during the summer, I have this dream about Edythe Spevey and me.  We're on
the swing that hangs from the pecan tree in our backyard.  And while we're
swinging, its like Edythe's body is in my body.  Her legs kick out from my
legs, and her head leans forward out of mine.  When I move my arms forward,
her arms come out of them.  We are swinging in this just right rhythm.  We
are swinging high, flying way up, higher than in real life.  And when I look
down, I see all the ordinary stuff - our brick house, the porch, the tool
shed, the back windows, the oil-drum bar-b-q pit, the clothesline, the China
Berry tree.  But they are all lit up from inside so their everyday selves
have holy sparks in them, and if people could only see those sparks, they'd
go and kneel in front of them and pray and just feel good.  Somehow the
whole world looks like little altars everywhere.  And every time Edythe and
me fly up into the air and then dive down to earth, it's like we're bowing
our heads at those altars and we are praying and playing all at the same
time."

There is a famous poem that also applies:

The kiss of the sun for pardon.
The songs of the birds for mirth.
We are closer to God's heart in a garden,
than anywhere else on earth.

I better stop now...

Shane