There Is No Spot On Earth
There is no spot on earth
that ever became sacred until
something danced there;
maybe it was just an atom or two
or someone saw the sun,
beneath our every step
or until something sang there,
even be it just a molecule.
In my senior seminar class in college I was asked to contemplate this question as my final project: “What is place and what makes a place sacred?” At the time, I have to say I was disappointed that my philosophy major had come down to this question, since I was hoping for something deeper or more existential.
In class, I noticed that many of my classmates discussed weddings, meeting their fiancé, the spot in which a child was conceived with their husband, etc. as their sacred place (even if these “places” hadn’t happened yet). Many great works of literature honor the place in which love is remembered or manifested. e.e. cummings wrote in love is a place: “love is a place/& through this place of/love move/all places”.
Over a year later, this morning, I read these words of Hafiz. No place on earth was ever sacred until someone danced there, be it only an atom or two. If we allow dancing to be metaphorical – i.e. to also mean surging emotions of the heart, then the answer to this question I was once asked becomes clearer. Any interaction that someone ascribes meaning to, any second to which one is attached, any minute that acted as an important marker in people’s lives is sacred. And the location of that valued moment is a sacred place.
There is no spot on earth
that ever became sacred until
something danced there;
maybe it was just an atom or two
or someone saw the sun,
beneath our every step
or until something sang there,
even be it just a molecule.
In my senior seminar class in college I was asked to contemplate this question as my final project: “What is place and what makes a place sacred?” At the time, I have to say I was disappointed that my philosophy major had come down to this question, since I was hoping for something deeper or more existential.
In class, I noticed that many of my classmates discussed weddings, meeting their fiancé, the spot in which a child was conceived with their husband, etc. as their sacred place (even if these “places” hadn’t happened yet). Many great works of literature honor the place in which love is remembered or manifested. e.e. cummings wrote in love is a place: “love is a place/& through this place of/love move/all places”.
Over a year later, this morning, I read these words of Hafiz. No place on earth was ever sacred until someone danced there, be it only an atom or two. If we allow dancing to be metaphorical – i.e. to also mean surging emotions of the heart, then the answer to this question I was once asked becomes clearer. Any interaction that someone ascribes meaning to, any second to which one is attached, any minute that acted as an important marker in people’s lives is sacred. And the location of that valued moment is a sacred place.
Enjoy this video about finding that place.
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