Robbie Ludvigsen - The Ordinary as Mask of the Holy (4/11/2011)

The idea of the ordinary aspects of life acting as masks of the holy is just as much intriguing as it is confusing. In Landscapes of the Sacred Belden Lane writes, “This is a book concerned with ordinary landscapes, seen -- with the eyes of faith -- in binary vision” (Lane 65). I’m not exactly sure what ‘binary vision’ actually refers to, but this quote kind of prefaces how Lane tries to envision ordinary landscapes. Lane gives examples of how people can envision ordinary landscapes differently and ties them all together. Lane writes, “In each case -- Spanish Catholic, Seneca, Shaker -- the landscape was read in multiple ways, the ordinary valued simply for what it was and yet also seen to occasion an entree to something more” (Lane 65). Lane suggests that we imagine a mask covering the world around us through which we can perceive the holy. Citing Martin Luther’s ideas on fascinans and tremendum, Lane explains that perceiving the holy can not be done without a mediator. Lane writes, “He insisted that God’s naked, awful majesty could never be done directly. In order to shield human beings from the unapproachable light of God’s glory, God always remains hidden, veiled by a mask (larva)” (Lane 67). Essentially, since humans cannot accurately imagine or portray God, there must be a process through which we can feel his presence without a visible entity.

As a mask can hide and reveal, Lane relates to this how landscape can be truly understood and perceived. Lane writes, “Many of the spiritual traditions discussed in this book perceive the American landscape, both in its rural and urban forms, as a kind of mask of the holy. They understand it simultaneously to hide and reveal certain aspects of the splendor, grace or terror of the divine” (Lane 67). Essentially, if we recognize that wilderness and landscape are bigger and more importantly; fundamentally different from us, we can connect with nature on a spiritual level. Thus, one can heal their psyche and reach catharsis by experiencing landscape through this mask.