Landscapes of the Sacred Ch. 1 Ashley Irving

Landscapes of the Sacred Ch. 1

Ashley Irving

In his book, Landscapes of the Sacred, Lane discusses four rules that one may use to guide themselves through American spirituality. These four guidelines are referred to as axioms. The second axiom is stated by Lane as being that the "sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary". This can be perceived as saying that any place can be a sacred place. Certain requirements do not have to be met in order for a place to be considered sacred except one: religious experiences must be had in that location. Likewise, while one location may be a sacred place for one individual because of an experience that they have had involving the wholly other, it may not be a sacred space for others, but simply an everyday location.

This axiom hits close to home for me personally because there is a specific place to me that has special meaning, but to those around me it is simply a normal, everyday spot with no important significance. This specific location is the bus loop of my high school. In this parking lot, the marching band practices 4 days a week after school and many Saturdays throughout the football season. It is a very special place to me because when I was a Sophomore in high school, I moved from my childhood home where all of my family is located and went to a new area where I was the new kid for the first time in my life. In this parking lot, I met the first people from my new school on a hot day in August. I was a week late to band camp so not only was I "the new kid", but I was also behind everyone else.

In this bus loop, I progressed from being a scared new kid who didn't know anyone, to someone who was section leader for the band for two of my three years there and who played a critical role in the band receiving their fifteenth straight Superior rating at the state assessment, VBODA. In this parking lot I met some of the best friends that I will have for the rest of my life as well as my boyfriend who has been a major player in my life for the past two years. Not only did I make relationships and memories that have helped shaped me into who I am today, but I have also learned key lessons that I will carry with my throughout the rest of my life such as how to work with others, how to be an effective leader and role model, but also to appreciate the small things in life whether they be having impromptu jam sessions between runs or the feeling of pride as the crowd applauds after our performance.

While this particular location has a very special meaning to me personally, for everyone else who attended my school or even someone simply driving past it, it's just a bus loop. It isn't a scared place for them as it is for me. If I had not joined the marching band and had the experiences that I had in that bus loop ritually for the past three years of my life, it would just be a parking lot to me as it is to others. It only became a sacred space because of the continuous events that made it extraordinary, such as the second axiom states. This boring, old parking lot, made me who I am today.