Holy Ground
“Humans
are created with the knowledge of the sacred, even if it is an incomplete
understanding.”
Tracy
Balzer (A Journey of Sea and Stone, p.17; Broadleaf Books, 2021)
My
beach trip was cancelled yesterday due to the delta variant. Every year, I
begin in early spring to crave a few days at the ocean’s edge. The last time I
was there was 2018, Mexico Beach, FL two weeks before hurricane Michael wiped
it off the map. Every year, I plan a trip that gets cancelled for one reason or
another. And every year I am sorely disappointed. For me, as for billions of
other humans, water’s edge is sacred space—a place to restore body and soul.
One wonders
why that is—at least, this one wonders. Most folks go to the beach to sit on
the sand and sun themselves, drink beer, read a book, and party with friends. I
did that, too, as a younger woman. Now, the ocean, like the desert and the deep
green Appalachian Mountains is a place of contemplation where the beauty of the
natural elements joins with distinctive salt smells and wave rhythms to lull me
into silence. And silence is required for contemplation—the sound of the human voice
in conversation must be stilled so that the inner voice may be heard.
Blaise
Pascal said that humans possess an “infinite abyss” that can only be filled by
the sacred. In fact, humanity has, since it grew a higher brain, attached meaning to places and objects that far exceeds their material value. We created symbols
and signs that show us where the holy resides, because we want to believe in
something greater than ourselves. Also, because we recognize the power of
presence, the intangible, ineffable, incomprehensible life force within us and beyond
us, and we feel it to be sacred. It is particularly strong in ancient places,
where other humans lived and died, where land meets sea, or where there is an
entrance into the earth. When we enter the primordial water, or the cool
interior of the earth, something within us recognizes home. We know that we are
on holy ground. Body and soul connect.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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