Sacred Space

Written on 10/04/2025
Poetic Outlaws

By: Erik Rittenberry

Photo: Erik Rittenberry

“There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.”

Wendell Berry

The desecration of the sacred 
in our modern age is merely a symptom
of our spiritual severance, a desertion 
from meaning, an exile from the soul’s 
innermost essence.

Regardless of how ugly and 
wretched the modern world 
gets, how soulless and embittered
society inevitably becomes, 
there will always be an
unbroken stillness
out there by the waters 
at dawn.

And the trees will still 
whisp in the wind
and the birds will still 
flutter in the sky
and the lilacs will still 
rise from the soil
of springtime 
meadows. 

Regardless of it all,
there are still sacred places 
to escape to when the 
blood begins to falter.
Go there. 
Often. 
Breathe in 
the centuries. 
Rejoice in your
solitude. 
Take pleasure in the 
sublime silence. 

Come forth into the light of things, 
let nature be your teacher.

As the great Joseph Campbell
reminded us: 

"Your sacred space is where you 
can find yourself again 
and again.   

You really don’t have a sacred space, 
a rescue land, until you find 
somewhere to be that’s not 
a wasteland, some field 
of action where there is 
a spring of ambrosia—
a joy that comes from inside, 
not something external that 
puts joy into you—a place 
that lets you experience 
your own will and your own 
intention and your own wish 
so that, in small, 
the Kingdom is 
there. 

I think everybody, whether 
they know it or not, is in 
need of such a place."

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