Kylie Woodrum "Lane's Axioms"

In "Landscapes of the Sacred," Lane introduces his four axioms which are philosophical approaches to understanding sacred places. The first axiom (sacred place is not chosen, it chooses) represents the idea that people do not choose which places they want to be sacred. They have to experience different places and only certain ones will seem meaningful to them. The second axiom (sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary) means that any place can be thought of as sacred. If a person continually performs rituals somewhere then they will develop a connection with that place and it will be sacred to them. The third axiom (sacred place can be tred upon without being entered) explains the fact that not everyone experiences a sacred place. Even if a place is considered sacred if an individual does not have a sacred experience there, they will not have entered the sacred place. The fourth axiom (the impulse of sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal) means that sacred places can be important to individuals who are around them, but also to people who are not able to experience the place firsthand and they merely view the place as being sacred.