Sunday, November 29, 2009

Twitter as Sacred Space

I've been noticing the connections between Twitter and sacred space. To some, this may seem absurd; to others, outrageous. I'm not talking about those hushed, rarified places where a whisper shatters the holy apple cart. The sacred spaces to which I relate Twitter are often pilgrimage sites teeming with a cacophony of seekers, music, rituals, storytelling, offerings, hawkers, con artists, recitations of scriptures and countless other activities. Places such as Varanasi, Bodhgaya, Lourdes, Mecca and countless others are gathering places for the multitudes looking for connection, inspiration, guidance, information and wisdom.

More specifically, the architecture of Twitter reflects the archetypal design of sacred space. Similar to sacred space, Twitter offers a spacious container (think the overarching dome of St. Peter's or the Pantheon). This spacious container of Twitter invites the full spectrum of characters to enter and express themselves (imagine the thousands of carvings covering Notre Dame Cathedral or a Hindu Temple, or Borobudor...) and the crowd of faithful inside. Within the spacious container flows a stream of energy responding to questions, needs, and intentions as they arise moment by moment. Places for making offerings (altars) are also there. Like the prayers wedged between the stones of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the candles lit in the chapels of Chartres Cathedral, flowers placed on the Ganges' current, each tweet is placed in the mysterious digital river, sparking unexpected realizations and pointing toward an indescribable spirit that connects us all.

12 comments:

  1. at first (despite not being even remotely religious) i thought "blasphemy," but actually, i think you're really onto something...it's all about the angle from which one considers things...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful! I feel the same. Virtual space as container for the faithful (faith as belief in experience of deeper self, not its limited dogmatic version . . .)

    Thanks for following me on Twitter!

    marguerite

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Sacred" is a highly charged word. Many have attempted to grab it to divide one person or group from another. Yet, the sacred impulse, the sense of connectedness and mysterious is essential to being human. The power of the sacred is that it eludes the grasp of the mind, it cannot be owned, but it can be accessed by all to nourish, inspire and power creative action. Thanks, for your comments. Let's keep the dialogue going.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The common denominator of the sacred spaces you describe, including Twitter, is Chaos: pure random events from which the illusion of Order is invented by mind.

    Scientific and religious people agree that the universe arose from Chaos and will end in Chaos. But for some reason they all insist that it's not in Chaos right now.


    "Chaos is not dangerous until it begins to look orderly." Max Gunther, "The Zurich Axioms"

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really love the notion of twitter being able to be a sacred space.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks, Beth. Through history sacred space has been integral to human life. Not rarified, isolated places, but vital dynamic regenerators of earthly existence. As the western mind imagined living wholeness into a fragmented worldview, we began to believe the renewing space of the sacred as separate from the marketplace, home, etc. The digital age is reweaving the ancient understanding into a new global wholeness.

    ReplyDelete
  7. amazing! I have been trying to figure out what I appreciate about twitter...and now I have perhaps the best explanation...thank you for giving this rising phenomena a potentially noble role in our lives.
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  8. Elle, Thanks for your comment.Twiiter is one of the new technological waves rising from the digital tide. They will have power and meaning as long as they emerge from and remain connected to archetypal human experiences such as those found in sacred space.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Twitter really is a spacious container. You can see both desperation and inspiration there. I actually have renewed compassion for twitter spammers now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I was having thoughts along these lines earlier today, as I have experienced some unique nourishment of soul, mind and heart on twitter -- and even some advice for tending my body!

    I like the way you thought this through and articulated it here.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete