Sacred Space

I’m a big fan of Joseph Campbell. He said (among other things):

“Sacred space and sacred time and something joyous to do is all we need. Almost anything then becomes a continuous and increasing joy.”

He also said (among other things),

“I think a good way to conceive of the sacred space is a playground. If what you are doing seems like play, you are in it.”

Thinking of my friend Joe’s words, this morning I went in search of my sacred space.

Ok, not really. I’ve only just re-found these words of Joe’s as a way of intellectually justifying that I spent the morning…

making a fort.

Yep, you read that correctly. A FORT. Sheets, clothes pins, furnishings inside, the whole 9 yards.

Yep, right there in front of the house.

I would like to report, though, that Joe was right. I had a heck of a time making it, sitting in it, knitting in it. I even entertained my pal Natalie, who came for a drop by visit, in it. Pure play, pure joy.

I might, however have to dispute this that Joe said,

“A sacred space is any space that is set apart from the usual context of life. In the secular context, one is concerned with pairs of opposites: cause and effect, gain and loss, and so on. Sacred space has no function in the way of earning a living or a reputation.”

This sacred space I created this morning might have done a little something to my reputation with the neighbors coming up to feed their pigs and seeing me sitting in it having a coffee.