morfe
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Every Holiday
Jul 30, 2003, 23:07
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I ever took as a child and not so child was marked on the M5 journey SW by Crookbarrow Hill. So it's 'sacred' to me, because it told me I was coming home, it was an ancient lookout post for me. Grandad Johnson told me that the Civil War Dead were buried there, but I was always suspicious. I measure it's sanctity by the hurt I would feel if it were destroyed. Another piece of the jigsaw of my youthful landscape, a physical memory, a signpost, a part of it all. For me. Subjectivity is the key. Of course if my family ancestors had been buried there, it'd be maybe more sacred? I used to call it Whittington Tump. Tump, barrow? If it's a barrow it's a big barrow? I'd like to know why it was built, but it's use for me is fixed as an ancient natural flag homeward, somewhere between Exmoor and Wychbury!
That tree on the top lends it a certain 'something' too? Aesthetically, evocatively. It leans away from the West, like one of those sea-wind trees on the coast.
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morfe
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Re: Got it wrong?
Jul 30, 2003, 23:23
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I do know that the word `sacred` is sometimes used without a religious context. To my way of thinking, that just devalues a powerful word.
So maybe the word 'sacred' has some sanctity? ;-)
I don't consider my use of sacred to devalue anything. It's those Christians that devalue it ;-)
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nigelswift
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Re: Every Holiday
Jul 30, 2003, 23:32
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A beacon to mark that you were nearing home. Me too! Perhaps all Midlanders feel the same way!
There's precious little on the net about it, just a few references to being Neolithic and artificial. Some flint and pottery. (I've found some worked flint in the ploughed field alongside, and though I'm no expert I think there are bits of pottery from every era there).
If it was in Wilts it would be a superstar, don't you think?
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baza
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Re: definition of Sacred?
Jul 30, 2003, 23:34
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>or else you deny 'sacred' as a concept. because it is that; a concept.
That`s the one.
I can understand a ManU fan calling Old Trafford sacred.....jokingly.....because then he/she would be implying that it had some connection with a deity. That is the way that the word has become to be used outside of a religious context, i.e, to imply that that it *has* got some spiritual connection, even though we wouldn`t normally regard it as having so.
So, when `sacred landscapes` is mentioned, I immediately regard it as meaning a landscape with some sort of religious significance, I don`t see what else it can mean. As the word`s root *is* from religion and that is still it`s primary place (within religion), to use it other than in a religious context is misleading.
baz
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FourWinds
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Am I really me?
Jul 30, 2003, 23:35
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What a rip-snorter of a thread! I've sat back and read with joy and wonder (They both enjoyed it too but Joy's gone home now and Wonder's wandered off or something like that)
So. I must say that I appreciate what Baza said at the start, but I would phrase it somewhat differently.
I cannot supply an answer to the original question, because I personally consider nothing sacred'. As Baza says *everything* has the potential to be sacred to *someone* *somewhere*, but don't expect me to join in.
I can stand back, look at a scene, look at a panorama, and go "WOW! Someone might consider this sacred and I think I can see why! but I'll just enjoy it for what I perceive it to be - bloody lovely"
I'm not going to start revering it. I might cherish it (or is that the same thing in denial? dunno).
I will never try and second guess the 'religious' beliefs of a people of whom we have no idea about. We have some big clues, but it's how we interpret them that shapes our ideas about their lives.
Here's a stupid thought. Ever wondered why so few people are intered in some tombs? Massive structures with just 3 or 4 burials/cremations in them? Perhaps they are the gates to HELL! And that significant hill on the horizon is actually the gateway to hell and the 'tomb' has been placed *there* so that the lost souls of those intered within go stright there!
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Moon Cat
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Re: sacred in the eye?
Jul 30, 2003, 23:46
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You Baza stick to the rigid dictionary definition of sacred which I guess is fair enough, but is indictative of the rigidity in which you are selfbound to percieve any matters spiritual.
I have argued that that definition is too narrow, and unrealistically inflexible when one considers the potency of the idea of having a sacred 'thing' or space. A space, regardless of it's history, can me made sacred by belief.
I would also argue that even the most scientifically rigid of brains have their own notions of sacred space; a space that has a deep emotional resonance to their beliefs (belief being in 'fact' or something other) . For example I would wager that to some astronomers, deep routed in their science , the obersvatory at Greenwich would be a kind of sacred space, even if they would balk at the term, purely because of the impact of the place in the history of their beliefs. And the same might go for 'sacred' science spots everywhere in many disciplines.
Sacred is bigger than God and religion to me.
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morfe
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Re: Every Holiday
Jul 30, 2003, 23:50
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I think it would, if it was in Wilts ;-)
Then again, talking of Sacred Landscapes always pulls in someone who can cross-reference Crookbarrow with Cheops ;-)
ARGHY!
http://www.sciasitis.org.uk/asam.htm
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BrigantesNation
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Re: Sacred Landscapes
Jul 30, 2003, 23:51
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Not quite what you've been waiting for, just a small part of it:
by using air photo's and other evidence I have drawn a picture of what Thornborough may have looked like about 3,500 years ago - with the henges, burials and post alignments. This does not include any settlements that were there and so is not a complete picture, but it is a start.
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/image.php?image_id=16346
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morfe
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Of course, I would say that your sanctuary lies in the sacred space of your spiritual refusenik policy and the autism of your collect-athon ;-)
:-O
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BrigantesNation
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Re: Nasal cavities
Jul 31, 2003, 00:08
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Never mind the intense ritual activities associated with such sports.
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