The Middle Place

The Zuni tribes, as Sam Gill describes them, founded their cities in a sacred pattern and sacred way. The center of their cities was a place of ritual and the center city was the most sacred. Their entire culture system was based upon the sacred.

I contrast this to the US where we have secularized everything (and with our concept of religious tolerance, have demonized every religion from Christianity to Paganism). We have no God(s) in our city. I find this appaling, and possibly why we have culture wars today. I do not speak as a Christian (I can't be called one). I can't be labeled within any religion. And yet, I feel that I have realized the value of the sacred and a strong sense of metaphysics within the community. It rarely is the government who comes to the aid of those in crisis, but rather the community of the religious in the name of the cosmos who gives aid. Secularism can only go so far, and it appears that because science has no real foundation any more and is constantly being proven wrong (is that not the nature of science?) that it is folly to found the community within such an abstraction.

Religion and the sacred appear to have much more meaning to the believer, or even the observer than quantifiable naturalism. Religion also appears to have much more reverence for the community and habitat, than science which is only reverent unto itself. With this in mind, I advocate dropping your microscope and picking up your soul.