Kelley Calvin Reflection on Landscapes of the Sacred #1

Landscapes of the Sacred  

Kelley Calvin

A prevalent reason as to why so many sacred places are known is due to the fact that people talk about them. People spread what happened to them in a certain location to other people and in result those people go to visit the said sacred place. Sacred places are so sacred because they are "storied places". Human beings love stories, they thrive off of them. Moreover, people dictate their lives based on stories. The Bible, in all, is just a collection of stories, the Torah is another collection of stories.

Stories aid humans in being able to relate to religious figures, they make them more natural and human. Likewise, stories motivate people to do things. When you hear about a friend going to the mountains and having an experience truly like no other, wouldn't you want to go? Stories about these sacred places are why people visit them; it's why Christians visit The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, it's why Muslims visit Mecca, and Jews visit Jerusalem. Stories of these places have brought millions of people to them and in the end created the sacredness aspect of them.

People make sacred places is what I'm trying to get at. Without people there would not be sacred places. Places would not just radiate with sacredness without human beings, they really don't even do that now. Human beings, with their own personal experiences make sacred places. We decide where a sacred place is and who goes to it and why they go to it and how they go to it. Mother nature doesn't have much say in where humans classify a spiritual place. Sacred places are the result of human interaction and exchange with one another rather than natures decision or idea of where they should be located.