Eric Shulman on Lane's Axioms

Lane suggested that there are different rules or “axioms” that which individuals must perceive in order to understand American spirituality of the character of sacred space. Through these axioms, landscape is molded in the religious imagination. The first axiom states that sacred place CHOOSES, it is not CHOSEN. Lane described this axiom by reliving a moment where he was abandoned near the Mississippi; however, he was unexpectedly found soon after. He believed that the place where he was stuck seeked him out itself. I can also relive an event where I had a feeling of this axiom. As a young boy, one of my favorite things to do was play hide and go seek with my friends in the woods near my neighborhood. It became a weekly activity for us kids. One day we decided to play it beyond our normal boundaries. I was one of the hiders and had been hiding for over twenty minutes, so I was getting a little worried. The place where I was hiding luckily was behind a tree that seemed too easy to climb. As the daredevil I was, I climbed the tree to finally locate my friends calling my name. No other tree in the woods seemed to be like “that” tree, and thankfully I was next to “that” tree. The second axiom states that sacred place is an ordinary place, however, sacred place is ritually made extraordinary through the use of its surrounding features. This means that a sacred place has its own distinct, unique things about it. A place I know of and have researched that rings a bell to this second axiom is Stonehenge. After learning about it in Fine Arts, it took a lot for Stonehenge to be what it is today. One has to imagine how those stones were moved back in the day because they did not have the same technology that we are lucky to have today. The third axiom suggests that a sacred place can be tred upon without being entered. This axiom relates to an individuals state of consciousness. An individual does not have to physically enter a sacred place to establish its meaning and purpose. Additionally, one can perceive a sacred place through spirit and ritual, wherever and however they go about it. The final axiom states that the impulse of sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal. I can relate to this axiom from a well-remembered moment on vacation in Florida at the age of 12. In short, I was lost coming out of an NHL hockey game. I had told my parents I knew where we parked the car; however, they didn’t believe me, so I went on my own to track it down. Within minutes I had found it, yet my parents and sister weren’t in sight. It must have been thirty minutes before they finally had found me thinking I was either kidnapped or still lost. Clenching our bodies together, my family and sister were relieved.