Landscapes of the Sacred - Post 2

Lane Belden, author of "Landscapes of the Sacred" explains that sacred places have the ability to define the people who populate it. He gives a quote and then points out that "place not only has a way of molding personality, but it serves also as an anchor of human existence." When reading this quote, one might think to themselves: What is it that the land around me says about me and how it changes me? When I thought about this I began to think about how often the land serves as the center of our world. We focus on it regularly, whether through direct thought or subconsciously. Through this thought of the land it begins to change us. For example, lands with a lot of trails may influence us to enjoy hiking and being more of one with nature. The opposite is possible too, with city like landscapes possibly driving us away from the wilderness. This is also just a simple example, but one can begin to see how the land changes a person's thought process and their character simply by being around it.

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