Ellen Simmons "The American Tension between Space and Place"

In Lane's book, Landscapes of the Sacred, he describes to what extent human beings experience he sacred as a matter of expansiveness or as a matter of safe enclosure. Or in easier terms how humans experience time and place. He describes four terms topos, chora, chronos, and kairos.

Topos: how a site may be initially seen, a mere location, a measurable, quantifiable point, neutral and indifferent

Chora: a place seen as an energizing force, suggestive to the imagination, drawing intimate connections to everything else in our lives

These two terms are used to describe place experienced by human beings.

Chronos: every second equal to the next, repetitive ticking of the clock, duration measured

Kairos: unrepeatable moments, moments not like previous moment, unique moments

These two terms are used to describe time experienced by human beings.

I will give examples of each of these terms (these examples are made up!).

Topos: Sitting in my room with my male friend.

Chora:Sitting in my room with my male friend and he asks me to be his girlfriend. This is after we have been great friends for a number of years.

This is an example of topos and chora because sitting in my room with my male friend is different from sitting in my room when he asks me to be his girlfriend. That place, my room, will be the place that I look back on and remember that memory of him asking me to be his girlfriend.

Chronos: Sitting in class watching the clock go by on a Friday afternoon.

Kairos: Sitting in class on a Friday afternoon but truly enjoying the lecture or the class assignments and then the professor dismisses the class. I had no idea it was time to go, so I check my watch to make sure it was time to leave.

This is an example of time as chronos and kairos because watching the time tick away is an example of chronos and time going by with unrepeatable moments because I was "in the zone" is an example of kairos.