Sacred Landscapes

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morfe M
morfe Jul 31, 2003 17:10:51
Replying to baza

No, my problem (is) that I consider all the land sacred. We are nothing without it, it is everything without us. What can be 'more' than that? Religion has used the term 'sacred', and it may well be born from that, but it offends me. I consider something or somewhere that reminds us that ALL is sacred to be sacred, not somewhere or something that reminds us that some people/land/idea is more 'sacred' than another.

I don't really think anything is 'sacred' to me, it's an odd word, I use it halfheartedly, knowing that everything is mutable within the grand scheme of things, and the Umbra Nihil is neither sanctuary or denial. In saying this, I am as selfish as the next person, and if, say, (factually) the Rollright Stones has played a part in my development (spiritual), then it remains as a place so special in my heart that I would physically fight someone who tried to pull it down. Would that be to 'defend' the 'concept' of my (so called) spiritual awakenings? Maybe, but I know we can think at the cost of feeling. And inevitably, all my arguments come back to spiritual vs empirical reductionism. Which gets us nowhere. Thankfully, archeologist reductionists are also employed in preserving the natural landscape for the rest of us.

B BrigantesNation
BrigantesNation Jul 31, 2003 17:35:54
Replying to morfe

Surely the point is that what we think does not matter? It is what may have been in the minds of the builders of these monuments that is my train of thought, not the effect they have on me.

B baza
baza Jul 31, 2003 17:51:08
Replying to morfe

>I consider all the land sacred

As I`ve said (somewhere :o) ), to my way of thinking, that statement devalues the meaning of sacred.

You could say that it does the opposite and adds to the meaning of land, but that would mean that the sewage farm next to the land-fill site by the incinerator in front of the chemical factory is a sacred landscape.

FW and purejoy, last night, felt it necessary to point out that they feel wonderment at landscapes, too. I would go further and suggest that we non-religious types are capable of feeling *more* wonder because we have no explanation for what we see before us because to us it`s all come together out of randomness over billions of years.


baz