Sacred space is a religious concept. No matter how you look
at it one must believe that it is sacred or there is no reason for it to be so
at all. Each worldly religion has places that they call sacred. Sometimes they
build things on these places and other times they just leave a mark. The sacred
spaces are passed down through stories from generation to generation. As in “Old
Man Arranges the World” from The Earth is my Mother the only way the Native Americans would remember that
the Old Man slid down the Montana Mountains is for the older members of the
tribe to relay the story to the younger ones.
Some cultures
may call all the places on Earth sacred spaces as they see the world as a woman
“mother nature”. The World as Mother Nature makes some value the things on the
earth much more highly than other people. The amount of honoring the land may
become extreme especially when people believe only part of the land is sacred.
When this happens some groups of people try to take and keep the land they call
sacred.
This land is where they worship their god or gods and feel a
connection to them. “Second Nature” from How Art Made the World tells us that “visitors to Kakadu may be content to
enjoy the scenery … But even with earnest effort, they will never perceive the
forms … of the land as the Aboriginal inhabitants do” (Spivey 125). As visitors
to Kakadu see the land differently to those native to it, so too do people who
feel a piece of land is sacred see it differently from those who do not. Those
who do not see any land as holy or sacred often do not see reasons for showing
respect to a plot of land. Logically, to our left brain showing respect to a
piece of land makes no sense but with help from our right brain we can see that
honoring the land is like honoring a country’s flag or a grave stone. The land
is symbolic of what we are actually worshiping. The problems begin to arise
when we lose sight of this or let our left brains takeover and see no reason
for honoring anything not living and with this lose some of our emotions and
humanity.
You did an excellent job incorporating textual support into your post. However, I question your fundamental point. You say that sacred space is necessarily religious, but what about those who don't have a particular faith? Your point assumes that these people don't have a sacred space, or that what they consider sacred is not. I see where you're coming from because the common use of sacred is religious, however sacred can also be defined (according to dictionary.com) as:
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reverently dedicated to some person, purpose, or object: a morning hour sacred to study.
5.
regarded with reverence: the sacred memory of a dead hero. "
Thus, sacred does not necessarily have to be religious.
I am in complete agreement with 'kitten'. I think you did a fabulous job incorporating and backing up your points with different texts. However, I strongly disagree with your main point. One does not have to be of a particular faith to consider a certain space sacred to them. For perfect example, my loft. My loft has absolutely no religious affiliation, qualities, etc whatsoever. It is simply a place where I can go to feel completely relaxed and at peace.
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