{"id":4306,"date":"2022-09-08T23:23:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T23:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/?p=4306"},"modified":"2025-11-13T23:24:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T23:24:36","slug":"sacred-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/sacred-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacred Space"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1763076221396{padding-top: 12px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 12px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;background-color: #F9FFC1 !important;}”]Sacred Space —<\/p>\n

What do these words mean to you?<\/p>\n

How do you define sacred space and, then, how do you relate to your ideas about it? These questions feel very wide and deep to me. Complex, daunting, intriguing, and, yes, spacious. I\u2019m curious about the ways in which our various cultures, our faith backgrounds, and our individual experiences influence what we believe about what is\u2014and what is not\u2014sacred.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m often struck by the resonance among the disparate things I read and hear when I\u2019m exploring something interesting and important. New information that is coming from a different perspective echoes something I\u2019ve heard before. In different language, a different setting, perhaps, but a kind of intersection of similar messages.<\/p>\n

For example, right now\u2014as I puzzle over how to live in this world of 2022\u2014I\u2019m standing in the intersection of a succession of voices\u2026 Brooks, Oliver, Niebuhr, Stockdale, and Kimmerer. In a recent PBS Newshour, David Brooks spoke of this time as \u201can atmosphere of menace.\u201d That helped explain the heaviness, the dread, that I feel in response to the multiple threats human beings are being faced with. Much of what I think of as sacred is suffering great harm.<\/p>\n

And then, Mary Oliver\u2019s voice could well be mine, in her poem, \u201cI Go Down to the Shore\u201d.<\/p>\n

I go down to the shore in the morning
\nand depending on the hour the waves
\nare rolling in or moving out,
\nand I say, oh, I am miserable,
\nwhat shall–
\nwhat should I do? And the sea says
\nin its lovely voice:
\nExcuse me, I have work to do.<\/p>\n

The sea, in its sacred space, tells me it has its own work to do, and I imagine it\u2019s suggesting
\nthat I find the work that is meant for me to do.<\/p>\n

That gentle admonition\u2014speaking of resonance\u2014reminds me of the original version of
\nReinhold Niebuhr\u2019s Serenity Prayer:<\/p>\n

God, give me the serenity
\nto accept things
\nwhich cannot be changed;
\nGive me the courage
\nto change things
\nwhich must be changed;
\nAnd the wisdom
\nto distinguish
\none from the other.<\/p>\n

These words feel more muscular, more active, than those of the version we\u2019ve become familiar with. It speaks of things \u201cthat must be changed\u201d and the need to \u201cdistinguish\u201d\u2014to intentionally discern\u2014when to step back and when to step forward.<\/p>\n

So much in this troubled, sacred world needs to be changed. I feel like apologizing to
\nGod for the mess we\u2019ve made of this beautiful creation. Did God have any idea of the havoc
\nthat bestowing free will on human beings would cause? How self-indulgent choices would
\nlead to resounding harm?<\/p>\n

When we contemplate the enormity of today\u2019s problems, we feel very small in comparison. What do we have to offer? How could we possibly make a difference? Too often, our imagined answers lead us away from engaging with the reality of the complex distress.
\nThat takes me in the direction of the Stockdale Paradox, referenced in Jim Collins\u2019 book,
\nGood to Great. \u201cProductive change begins when you confront the brutal facts\u2026. You must
\nmaintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.\u201d This echoes Niebuhr\u2019s praying for \u201ccourage\u201d\u2014that
\nbeautiful, brave, determined persistence that is stronger than the fear of failure.
\nFinally, I appreciate the scientific and Indigenous wisdom of Robin Wall Kimmerer. In
\nher remarkable book, Braiding Sweetgrass, she notes ,\u201cMany Native peoples across the
\nworld, despite myriad cultural differences, have this in common\u2014we are rooted in cultures of
\ngratitude.\u201d What would it feel like if we were to begin each day with a specific and vocal
\nstatement of gratitude? Would that quiet our apprehension about the very real distress around and within us, and help us move toward understanding what we might do with this single, particular hour?<\/p>\n

What if we were to stay with the hard questions, less attached to the outcome. If we continued to ask: \u201cToday, what can I do that would help to ease the suffering of someone?\u201d \u201cWhat can
\nI do that will reflect my appreciation of being one small part of this very large and sacred
\nworld?\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1763076221396{padding-top: 12px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 12px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;background-color: #F9FFC1 !important;}”]Sacred Space — What do these words mean to you? How do you define sacred space and, then, how do you relate to your ideas about it? These questions feel very wide and deep to me. Complex, daunting, intriguing, and, yes, spacious. I\u2019m curious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hanson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4307,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4306\/revisions\/4307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanps.org\/optima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}