Simultaneity of Vision 12/2/2019

In the book Landscapes of the Sacred, Lane talks about the simultaneity of vision. This is the idea that spiritual reality is conjoined with and stands behind physical reality. It is seeing the ordinary as extraordinary. The book gave an example of the Spanish Catholics seeing Death Valley as not only just a sandy, rocky, dry and hot terrain, but even more, as the “palm of God’s hand.” Another example that the book gave was with the Seneca Iroquois, who saw the hill at the head of Canandaigua Lake in New York as not just a lake, but even more the very place where life emerged. These examples can be tied back to the belief that sacred places can be anywhere, but not seen by just anyone. I think that for some sacred places, a person will need a certain level of spirituality or faith to feel the full, true effect of the sacred place. Otherwise, what some people will see as a sacred place, others will see as just a valley with extremely high temperatures, or just yet another a hill at the head of yet another lake. I think that along with acquiring this spirituality is the ability to tone one’s eyes into the ordinary to see what makes it extraordinary, essentially seeing two qualities simultaneously, having and using that simultaneity of vision.