A Spiritual Place

Tonight I was watching Property Virgins on HGTV. Fantasizing about buying a home someday is one of our guilty pleasures. Our viewing tonight was especially interesting, because the prospective buyer was talking about finding a place that was "spiritual" for her. I found this interesting because her definition of a spiritual place was not anywhere near what any spiritual tradition would call a holy place. For the woman on the show a "spiritual" place was a place that was cozy, move-in ready, and at an affordable price.

This woman seemed to be a very flighty new-agey sort. But this snippet of her life showed her to be an example of much of contemporary America. I think many folks in the United States and the Western world are not that much different than this woman. We think of a place that ministers to our spirit as luxurious, comfortable, and aestetically pleasing. Christians build retreat centers in beautiful places in the mountains these days, or next to beautiful beaches to walk on. These places have wi-fi, laundry service, a cozy bed in a comfortable room, sometimes you even recieve a mint on your pillow.

Our contemporary idea of spiritual as comfortable, safe, easy, and cozy has nothing to do with what people have thought of as sacred spaces throughout history. The sacred places of Hebrew culture are barren wilderness one can die in, and remote mountains that most people were scared to climb. The Buddha left the comfort of the palace to embrace poverty and near starvation in order find spiritual enlightenment. Early Christian places of spiritual enlightenment were found in small "cells" in the desert of Northern Africa. The monasteries of Europe were drafty rooms in stone built structures, and beauty was only created in these places through the backbreaking work that accompanied monastic contemplation. Holy places throughout the world are dank and smelly barns and caves, in places that scared the average person, and made them overcome their longings for finer foods, temprate climates, and more jovial company.

In short, throughout religious history and tradition, from Islam to Christianity to the Native Spiritualities of North America, spiritual places were not comfortable places. They were places that required work and strength to survive in. They were places that inspired mystery and confusion. They required scarcity and relinquishment. Too bad we have redefined "spiritual places" as all-inclusive resorts, move-in ready homes with massive amounts of square footage, or a night at the Hilton with a bubble bath.