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sacred space
lobster
Crusty Veteran
Some of you may remember these statues, which I posted my pics of and have now moved on ...
Somebody I introduced the statues to, has kindly sent me a video of the artist describing his work.
The artist very deliberately and devoid of religious affiliations, describes some of his permanently located sculptures as 'sacred spaces'.
What for you is sacred space? Perhaps it is the space between your two temples? A temple garden? Treasured ideals? Perhaps nothing is sacred or it all is? Is sacred also a secular concept?
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Comments
Sacred is a beautiful word, in the beginning I saw things I held dear to me as sacred.
I had a few Buddha statues and a small area where I meditated.
I also travelled to a few sacred places around South East Asia like Angkor Wat etc.
Recently I've been noticing the sacredness in nature, watching a flower.
It's completely beyond what the human mind could even fathom. The intricacy and beauty is beyond belief. Even our best artists could never come close to what nature is already doing.
But even beyond all this, I'm beginning to realise everything is sacred. Even the crumpled tin can...
When you dive into what vision actually is... And you explore right into what it means to see...
It's a miracle, sacred beyond any concept. I mean here we are on a spinning planet, breathing, feeling the heat of a burning star, looking at a tin can.
I never asked to be here, yet here I am.
This is sacred. How did I miss this.
Tee hee. I think the most obvious things are 'hidden' in plain sight. The obvious answer is being distracted by 'mind noise', karma, being un-calmer than required. Lack of attention etc. In essence the Purelands, far-shore, Nirvana, Awakening etc are always already present.
So the sacred IS to be found in the profane but it takes more unfolding to enter the sacred spaces of constricted hell dwellers.
'It's all good', as the New Agers rightly remind us ...
Thus have I been assured and found to be true ...
I like the atmosphere in churches and shrine rooms and such, but as an amateur Pagan my favourite sacred spaces are in the natural world, like a particular place on the sea-shore or a small waterfall in the woods. And the night-sky is sacred of course.
My sacred space is everywhere in nature.I love forests,fields,meadows.Especialy i love to be by the sea,i get there such good energy.Unfortunately the people forget from where they com
e and they look for sacred spaces from the buidings.
Anywhere quiet seems sacred to me - which it was anything but last night at my place - at 12:30, a neighbor decided it was time to listen to rock radio; someone banging on their wall and begging them to turn it down; the usual upstairs suspect tuning up. Having taken my Tylenol pm and half a tab of melatonin, it all quieted down around 3:00 and I was out. When I think of all the times and places where things are quiet, there's a quiet 'noise' almost like an almost imperceptible static but oh what a relief it is!
Is sacred also a secular concept?
-Yup...
Sometimes I just stare at my kids and the feeling that arises is something near to awe I guess. Not sure if I would describe them as sacred though.
Sacred is just a word -- but I think my heart knows sacred when it happens.
When you're in your own personal Sacred Space, you can't then be Scared of anything.
There are many places in the Rocky and Columbia Mountains that have that certain effect on me. Many are just roadside pull-offs that are quiet and peaceful. Olive Lake in Kootenay National Park is one of my favourites. There's a nice little picnic area, and a short walking trail with interpretive displays. A perfect place to spend a couple of hours in peace, just a stone's throw from the highway.
Thanks guys
Some key concepts seem to be emerging: safe, heart warming, peaceful/serene. I like the idea of children and safety mentioned and some of the great pics. Nature and Quiet. Also it is perhaps special and personal to us.
In a Rosicrucian group I used to belong to, the sacred was termed the 'rosebud', it was a special spark from the sacred realm within the heart.
In many ways I feel initially we seek out these sacred spots in our environment, in people, in teachings. In time the sacred comes to us with more of itself ...
I feel it is correct in Buddhist terms to call the three jewels sacred.
I feel like I am immersed in sacredness all the time. It's in every moment if you take time to see it. And really, how can it not be? Shouldn't every moment be that way? It reminds of the quote "There are two ways to live: as if everything is a miracle, or nothing is." (loosely quoted, Einstein I believe)
I hold all of life dearly. And those things in my life I don't hold dear, I let go of so that they can be something sacred to someone else.
What a lovely thread
Well said @karasti
The blessed, sacred, special is increasingly everywhere.
The Middle Way is perhaps between the ordinary and the extra-ordinary ...
I really like @silver picture. It combines two great Buddhist themes; death and renewal. My father was buried under a cherry tree. My local graveyard is being partly turned into an apiary/nature sanctuary. Empty churches/mosques/temples when not being bothered by evangelical jihadees are wonderful spaces, as are the traditional sanctuaries of the tantrika, graveyards/charnal grounds.
One of my favourite spaces used to be the library/museum of the Grand Central Lodge, women and non masons welcome.
As well as pagan sanctums, mentioned by @SpinyNorman, I would also remember museums, art galleries and libraries are secular sacred spaces ...
Spaciousness, emptiness and mind stilling has an outward form to familiarise ourselves with its inner nature ...
Like most people I'm inspired by nature. Certain types of landscapes seem to resonate for me.
In my life I have found some places where I've had realizations, that I continue to visit with an expectation that I might find insight there and often do.
So they would be sacred places for me.
I have been fortunate to have always been able to own property in my home port.
Some years back after divorce, I started over on new property. I'm finally preparing to build myself a new house where I hope to experience old age sickness and death. With some good times mixed in.
I will build my house looking over this marshland. I'll be a meal for plenty of bugs at times, but it is wild, serene, and full of life. All kinds of water birds. Cranes and herons. Swans ducks and geese. Farther down where the marsh turns into more of a lake there are trout that are never fished for.
There are bears, cougars, wolves and deer all through this area..
Save a small nook for me......
I really enjoyed reading everyone's responses! I remember in recent years, I would go to the beach religiously either before sunrise or after sunset (the most peaceful hours of the day). I found a beauty and stillness there that I didn't know how to find within myself or anywhere else. I think what I also loved most about the beach was that it was never the same beach twice. The ocean was never the same ocean. Everything was different each time, and I was endlessly fascinated by the new discoveries I'd make while there. I still consider it a sacred space, but nowadays I can find the sacred in the things and places I never could before.
It is wonderful looking at these posts.
For me, it seems any time I take a moment or two and take in the scene where I am at that point in time, that place becomes a sacred place. For that matter, anywhere and everywhere there is life is a sacred place.
Just a bit of nonsense, I know. But what isn't? (Except, of course, for a hot cup of cocoa.
)
Peace to all
Do not understimate the sacred power of the chocolate shaman ...
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/07/me-and-the-chocolate-an-experience-at-a-cacao-ceremony-jayleigh-lewis/