Landscapes of the Sacred Chapter 1
Caitlin Murphy
We as humans strive off of instant gratification. The quote "patience is a virtue" is so prevalent in our every day lives. Right off the bat while reading chapter 1, I felt a connection with the writer. The writer talks about feeling weighed down by his stress/anxiety and searching for peace through God. He "drops" his responsibilities and ventures out into the forest in hopes of peace through spirit. When the writer reaches what he thinks is his destination, he becomes annoyed to find out instant gratification is not an option. He speaks about how 'the cabin never bursts into blazing light as I pray on my knees before an open breviary'. He wants to be able to enter the woods and immediately feel presence or have an enlightening experience, yet that is not realistic.
Axiom 1 states "The sacred place is not chosen, it chooses". I currently am struggling with grapsing this concept in my every day life. I struggle with finding a place to speak to God and feel his precense. I always think I need to be in a very spiritual place, be at my desk with my bible and journal open, or in a peaceful enviornment outdoors. I have come to learn that the sacred place in fact chooses me. I need to stop telling myself where my sacred place is and just let Christ guide me there.
When the author writes about walking through the forest and stopping at the sight of a deer, I was instantly excited. I often feel a spiritual presence through animals, and it was cool to read about how he felt a connection with the deer that he was longing for during his entire pilgrimage. There is a sacred place out there for everyone, we as people just need to open ourselves up to Christ and allow him to lead us there.
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