Space

Warning -- this post is somewhat serious. Not in the "ohmigosh, that's so sad" kind of way, but it reflects some thought I had today when I wasn't trying to be anything other than truly reflective. So if you are here for the yucks, go back to sleep.

One of the definitions of religion is the movement that sanctions the creation of the sacred place and the sacred time. Some would say religion actually demands that we establish the sacredness of a place and a time. This, to me, leads to a sense of awe regarding both the power of religion and the power of the human as an agent of the religious ideal.

It isn't just that we can attend a place which has been anointed as the sacred place, and do so as a member of a community which has agreed that certain times are reserved for the sacred -- these would be power enough on their own...no, it is the power each of us has to turn the mundane into the sacred even without the preset place or time.

Just as a note (this is a later edit) - this idea of sanctifying time and place actually elevates the individual. God says he will choose a place and that he will appoint times for us and yet we are also given the power to create sacred spaces and dedicate special times for ourselves. We are given a type of power parallel to god's and that's pretty neat.

There is incredible power in the communal and in the cooperative decision to ordain that a place and time have religious significance. But the true communing with the divine is the internalization of the process -- take the religious person out of the space but you can't take the space out of the religious person. When put in the position where the sacred place is not accessible, the individual can turn most any space into a sacred space. When the prime time is unavailable, a person can turn any moment into one dedicated to the idea of the religion. Any time can become a sacred moment if the intention of the individual is attuned to the will of the divine.

Turning outward can allow the religious person to connect with the whole, but turning inward can allow the individual to find the will to channel the divine spark and exude that religious ideal and then affect the surrounding in both time and space to turn any place and any time into a sacred one reserved for and dedicated to the transcendent.