Sacred Space in the Digital Age

I'm giving at webinar called Sacred Space in the Digital Age on October 20th.

Click here to register

Here's the description:
Digital technology is transforming our encounters with every aspect of life. It’s also revolutionizing our relationship with the primal mysteries of dwelling in this world. For thousands of years, people in all parts of the world set aside sanctuaries to inspire their minds and heals their hearts. Each sacred site expressed the needs and dreams of its specific location and culture. Meeting the needs and aspirations of the emerging digital culture requires new forms of sacred space and fresh ways of engaging them.

Sacred Space in the Digital Age offers you knowledge and methods for finding, creating and experiencing sacred space within the new global society. During this insightful and inspiring webinar you will:

• Discover the practical power of sacred space as an ally on your human journey
• Learn where to experience digital age sacred space in daily life
• Gain tools for creating your personal sacred space in at home or in the garden
• Increase the sacredness and meaning of your travels around the globe.

Webinar Leader
Anthony Lawlor is author of The Temple in the House and A Home for the Soul. During more than 30 years of architectural practice Tony has received awards for excellence in design from the American Institute of Architects and Interior Design Magazine. His work has been featured on Oprah, National Public Radio and numerous other national media. He lives and works in Marin County, California. For more information on Tony’s work, visit his website www.AnthonyLawlor.com and bloghttp://dwellingherenow.blogspot.com/

Date: Wednesday, 20 October 20, 2010
Time: 9:00 — 10:30 p.m. Eastern time, 6:00 — 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time
Place: Your Computer
Price: $25.00
Click Here to Register
"Your sacred place is where you find yourself again and again.” Joseph Campbell

Whole Foods Hunter-Gatherer's Awakening

Standing in Whole Foods, I remembered my animal body. My senses ignited with the overwhelming abundance surrounding me. My cells recalled the thousands of years my ancestors had foraged and hunted to survive. I imagined what it would be for one of them to happen upon these overflowing aisles and behold the profusion of vegetables, fruits and meat. Maybe, she would have fallen to the ground, bowing low to whatever goddess had carried her to this heaven. Perhaps he would have grabbed a shopping cart and run through the store, piling it high with viands for a legendary feast that would extolled around campfires for generations. Most likely, my hunter gatherer ancestors would set up camp at the entrance guarding this treasure from invaders and eaten whatever was at hand until their stomachs ached with satisfaction.

We, however, wander casually passed the mounds of apples, the cases filled with milk and the shelves stacked with honey. We act as if whatever we need to fill our bellies has always been and will always be available. So, I thank my animal body for reminding me it hasn't always been this way. I send gratitude to my ancestors' eyes for showing me the astonishment that would have overtaken them at such a sight. And, I marvel at the bounty of the earth and the consciousness that has allowed us to bring forth such copious wonder.

Earth Speaks Its Secrets in Textures

Earth has secrets to reveal, but you have to know how to read the signs. The language of nature doesn't fit into human text. It uses countless varieties of texture to express the subtle, shifting dialect of the land, water, sun and wind. Wisps of fog and thunderheads describe the journey of the wind. A shimmering palette of colors relate witty repartee between water, surrounding hills, plants and light. The grain of tree bark narrates decades of encounters with storms and heat, insects and animals.

The miracle of Earth's language is that each being can only understand what is being said through a one-to-one relationship. Nature doesn't make universal pronouncements. That would be too simple-minded and disconnected from the immediate needs of billions of humans, trillions of birds, mammals, snakes, lizards, flies, trees, grasses and flowers. Instead, Earth's language—the gurgling of a brook, the arc of a branch, or the redness of a berry—simultaneously says what is relevant to the bird, bug or bear that is engaging it at any given moment.

So, the next time you walk out your door, even if you're in Manhattan, notice the textures you encounter. What patterns of light and shadow are the trees casting on the ground? How are the ridges and valleys forming a visual brail in the sky? Sense the expansion and contraction of space as your animal body passes down streets, through doorways into rooms. Ignore the story your mind spins. With your whole being, listen to what is being said. At first, it may make no sense. In time, you can open beyond human words and understand the Earth's poetic song.

What We Dream Today

Once we weren't here. There was only the rolling earth, the shimmering waters, the waving grasses, the stretching oaks, the soaring hawks, the dancing deer, the industrious ants, the rain, the clouds, the sun and moon. There was a day the first humans came, standing upright, carrying tools, sparking cooking fires, shaping clay into pots, weaving grasses into baskets. There was a day when each street, building, park and car first appeared.

There was a day when I rediscovered the land beneath the concrete. I remembered that everything humans make springs from a dream within the mind. The dream mixes into the earth, generating computers, smart phones, sneakers and T-shirts. That day, I saw that what was dreamed into one form can be re-dreamed into other forms. That day, my bones recalled that the beliefs separating humans from the land can be re-shaped to weave humans back into the land. That day, my flesh and blood and brain shimmered as currents within the shimmering energy and wisdom of the earth. That day, I moved from living on the land to living from the land. And that day, I sensed the earth's desires becoming human desires; that what humans had formed from division will be reformed from integration. I saw that what is here will be forgotten and what will be here will be the result of what we dream today.

Piercing the Media's Fearful Illusions

Our belief in the media is driving us crazy. Every hour the electronic buzz crackles us another outrage to get worked up about. But the view of the world presented by the screens and the radio is only a pinhole view of a vast reality. The wider world is much more sane, peaceful and loving. The narrow scope of the media view has one purpose—sell advertising time. For that, it needs a big audience. Conflict stirs our biological reaction to danger. It gets our attention and keeps us glued to the latest drama waiting to be told on the other side of the commercials.

What I see and hear on the media screen doesn't match what I encounter every day. Does it reflect what happens in your day? There are countless realities at this moment. The fearful horror put forth by the mainstream media is only one version. There is a universe of other stories to follow and live.

Reports of book burnings, war, and environmental disaster wound our collective soul again and again. How we react determines whether these are flesh wounds or deep gashes that cripple our psyches. Responding with dread and hatred to what we see only deepens the wounds. Speaking wisdom to this ignorance helps awaken the collective mind and heal its pains of duality.

The fearful story put forth by the media is not a conspiracy by any one group. It's the universal archetype of Illusion, the play of Maya enacting the same mind-deluding tricks it has played throughout time. Our task is to see through this primal pattern and find the light of consciousness shining behind the trickster veil. This Illusion is not dispelled with another Illusion, but with unconditioned, silent awareness seeing its unity shimmering on the other side of Illusion.

Those caught in the media's illusion making machine are conflict addicts, hooked on duality. They get off on the adrenaline rush of crisis. They fly high on savior fantasies of swooping in to rescue the world with actual solutions or insightful commentary. These conflict addicts thrive on the belief that the dramatic divisions weakening us are real. As long as the collective body appears to be in the trauma unit, they have a purpose an a way to make a living.

Notice how the media puts forth the same stories everyday with different names filling in the blanks—war, poverty, disease, chaos... You know the rest. Yet, the public buys the same dramas again and again. The core media illusion is the belief that we are safer in familiar limitations and conflict than in freedom and dynamic harmony. This core illusion speaks to the ancient, reptilian part of our brains. As long as that little lizard is threatened with the illusion of danger, it will keep running back to its hole in the rocks. Expanding beyond this controlling force is the true evolution that will allow us to survive in this age of global community.

The media is mostly a circus that entertains our reptilian brains for the sake of income. Beck, Limbaugh et al don't believe what they say. They are entertainers out for ratings. Allowing their words to shape our worldview is like believing that distorted funhouse mirrors are giving us a clear picture of the world.

Certainly there are dangers to deal with, but the greatest danger is selling illusion for income. How we see the world shapes the world. Seeing through the illusions of conflict & fear to unity and compassion shapes the world toward greater health and abundance.

In this regard, the power of art is its ability to show us how forms of illusion can be used to liberate consciousness from illusion. The art of being a patriot is not to reinforce illusions of fear and conflict, but to dispel illusions with understanding and insight. The art of leadership points the way through illusions of division and hatred to unity and love. The art of living dispels illusions by living your truth.

So, when the next news alert flashes across your screen telling you the world is falling apart, remember the voice that hums in the hollow of your heart. Listen to its timeless reminder—what appears to be divided is one life flowing on its mysterious course through illusions of itself on its long journey home.

911—Let the Wound Become a Womb

Living carves a space in the soul, an ache longing to be filled. The mind races to restore what was lost. But the loved ones, the youthful spark, the glowing hope that were so real and suddenly disappeared cannot be retrieved. So the mind tries to pack the yearning cavity in the soul with explanations and stories. They fall short and leave gaps where hunger still throbs. Finally the mind searches for distractions, schemes to numb the pain. In its desperation, the mind insanely believes that the greater, self-inflicted pain of war, political conflict, economic domination, social hatred, brutal entertainments and other forms of violence will somehow soothe the wound. The mind rages through this nightmare until, exhausted, it surrenders to that space life has sculpted from the soul and gazes into its mystery.

Then the heart awakes. It's wise enough to know the cavity in the soul is not a wound. It's a womb longing to give birth. The heart knows new life is spawned from opposites, not separated, but joined in the joyous love dance that sends hot light shooting through every cell of the body. Within the soul womb, the mind sees emptiness wailing. The heart embraces its fullness of possibilities calling for opportunities to spring forth. Sparks of new life fly. Fresh forms of being and becoming take shape. New worlds dawn.

What appeared to be lost—the loved ones, youth and hope—were never gone. They merely changed forms. From individuals we could caress, they became forces too subtle for the aching mind to see. Through the opening in the heart, they long to take new forms and patterns of renewal. Make the simple gesture. Open your fists and let new life flow out.

Ground Zero & Sacred Space

It’s natural to think politics and sacred space don’t mix. The political arena roils with power plays, backroom deals and grandiose egos. Sacred space, on the other hand is often viewed as a sanctuary from such earthly turmoil. Yet, visit a temple in Varanasi, a church in Rome, or any one of the other countless holy places around the world and you will encounter profound stillness mixed with all manner of human activity, including politics.

The controversy about Ground Zero and a nearby Islamic community center expresses the modern viewpoint of separating the world into definable categories—spirit/matter, mind/body, human/natural, religion/science. This worldview helps our minds find order within the tides of change. It also causes us to feel isolated and endangered by those different from ourselves. This lens of separateness and peril distorts the world into a battleground of us against them conflicts. It increases fear and shatters hopes for a society that supports individuality while strengthening unity.

Traveling to world sacred places for decades and designing them in my architectural practice has taught me these lessons about how sacred space can heal the divides that wound us:

1. Sacred space is all encompassing. It receives all the impulses of life—creative, destructive and renewing. It invites all the characters in the play of life to gather—heaven & earth; human, animal, plant; the humble & the tyrants and everyone in between.

2. Sacred Space is enlivened by seemingly opposing forces. The gathering of all impulses in sacred space stirs stillness into flows of life that regenerate society.

3. Sacred Space embodies the archetypal human journey. The design and decoration of sacred places depict the questions every thinking person asks: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” Built in the dialect of the era they were crafted, they offer insight about navigating the challenges of this world.

4. Sacred Space points beyond itself to the silent source of all creation. Temples, churches, synagogues, mosques, kivas and other sacred structures are physical portals that guide attention to the nonphysical realm of the spirit. These structures can be owned by one group or another, but the spirit they access is shared by all.

5. Each generation creates sacred spaces. Wherever human beings have settled they establish sacred places. Each one honors those who have come before and offers life wisdom to those come after.

If Ground Zero is a national sacred place, let’s make it one that embodies these principles of archetypal sacred space. It will transform the site of wounding into a space of 1) all-inclusive compassion, 2) enlivened by diverse faiths and opinions, 3) supporting our individual and collective human journey, 4) pointing us beyond self-centeredness to our shared spirit, and 5) leave an example for future generations of how to live together in this world.

All Creative Work Builds on What Came Before

Loved this video. The energy and wisdom of the creative impulse connects us from the past, through the present and into the future. None of us are separate authors. It's not that we derive our create work from others, its what we do with it that counts.

THE LIVING TEMPLE: A Sacred Places Film

From 2004 to 2005 I traveled to many world sacred places and made a 30-minute film you can see by clicking the links below.

Map of Awakening

• Mind, hoping to understand and survive the terrain of Life, maps the world.

• It divides the soupy oneness it finds in two: me/you, light/dark, body/soul.

• Mind expands its dual vision into a gird of beliefs. It gives everything a name and appropriate place.

• Mind perceives these categories and locations as solid and fixed.

• A catastrophic event such as illness, divorce or death dissolves the grid the mind used to map the world.

• The solid world now appears to be in constant flux.

• Mind attempts to understand the fluid world and re-maps it as an interconnected spiral.

• The fluid spiral world map becomes transparent to all encompassing spaciousness.

• Mind attempts to map spaciousness, but it's stillness and silence are undefinable.

• Mind continues to map the world not to define it, but to frame indescribable spaciousness.

• Mind delights in the mystery play of boundaries and boundless.