Phenomenologylogy of Prayer numero uno- you know dis, Kenosis

Kenosis is self-emptying. In Phrenology of Prayer, it compares this to Jesus Christ. "In its specifically Christian sense, incarnation involves the notion of kenosis, that is, of God in Christ
emptying himself and taking on the form of a slave." Jesus pored himself into the world for the sake of human sin. I think of kenosis as basically the ultimate act of humility, at least according to Christ. Emptying oneself according to hiking the AT for example consists of letting go of your former life, and taking on this journey with an open mind and clean slate.

Image and Pilgrimage of Christian Culture- UNO liminalitayy

In Images and Pilgrimage of Christian Culture, it talks about the topic of liminality. It says, "During a right of passage a person enters a phase of separation from a previous group which is followed by an "in-between" or liminal phase during which many aspects of life are likely togo through a phase of change or distortion." Right after communitas, this liminal phase comes. This is when the person is in isolation, away from the group that they once were with, and get to focus on themselves. This inward thinking causes changes to occur mentally and spiritually as they are to reflect on who they really were, are, and will be in the future.

Landscapes of da Sacred numero uno

Tigerlily is a hiker who has decided to take on the Appalachian Trail. People hike the Trail for many different reasons, but some people don’t really have a specific reason. Tigerlily explains her reason- or lack of a reason- to hike the AT in her journal. “I still find myself asking WHY do I want to do this trail, what is the pull and there is a pull. I don’t have the answer which in my case may be the answer…I find myself feeling lost, searching for something meaningful. Looking for that purpose in my life and I just don’t feel that I can find it here. This “pull” she is experiencing, it can relate back to “Landscapes of the Sacred” and the fourth axiom. The fourth axiom states, “the impulse of sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal.” Since centripetal is moving towards a center, and centrifugal and moving away from a center, this impulse, causes one to be drawn in, and also drawn out. I think of this also as a way of looking inward but also outward; to learn about oneself on an introspective level, and also to learn about others, and life around you in a more outward sense.

Outside reading numero dos

I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.

I read this poem, called A Minor Bird by Robert Frost and it kind of made me think about some people's view of nature. People take things as simple and beautiful as a bird chirping for granted. People believe that they have everything. Their materialistic view of life keeps them completely satisfied... or so they think. When one truly embraces the essence and beauty of nature, then you can truly see what we have really been missing. I believe people are hardwired with a yearning for a connection with nature. But with modern day tech-filled hullabaloo fills our minds blotting out or casting a shadow of that need for nature. 

Outside readin numero uno

From Trailblazer.com, a hiker Cozy says that while in elementary school, she read the book, “My Side of the Mountain,” and ever since then she believed that God planted a “seed” or desire in her heart to hike the Appalachian Trail. She then talks about the feeling of that desire. “I suppose that’s how it begins for many of us. There’s a high interest, a strong desire, a gravitational pull that leads us to the Trail. People who don’t feel the pull will never understand why we need to go. But those who do feel it understand completely.” In Landscapes of the Sacred, it talks about the different axioms that categorize a place as sacred. The first axiom states, “sacred place is not chosen, it chooses.” This simply means that you cannot just declare a place sacred. This “pull” that Cozy talks about is a part of that. She is drawn to this place by a force that she cannot control, herself. The trail picked her; she did not pick the trail.

Mt. Reiner

A simple or ordinary landscape such as a mountain like Mt. Reiner has a holy mask. In Lane's axiom, a sacred place is an ordinary place made extraordinary by some act or ritual. Mt. Reiner can be a sacred place because although it is a ordinary mountain, it has massive glaciers making it extraordinary. This mountain is also called "the mountain that was God" and thus the idea that God always remains hidden makes a lot of sense. The mountain itself holds the idea of mysticism because if everything becomes God, then nothing is God. Thus, Mt. Reiner was considered the mountain that "was" God rather than it "is" God. Nothing is set in stone, nor is anything truly Christ because everything is hidden behind a "holy mask". This is the concept of Seeing and not seeing. Mt. Reiner may look just a mountain, but can have a whole other spiritual meaning behind its mask of ice.

Image and Pilgrimage Post 2

Turner describes how, " for the majority, pilgrimage was the great liminal experience of the religious life" and this is because one's own self discovery can occur. Pilgrimage offers something in return to the Pilgrim, but only when the journey is truly and deeply affecting on the person taking it. For example, " Pilgrimage, then, offers liberation from profane social structures that are symbiotic with a specific religion system" and thus this liberation comes from the liminal experience. So Pilgrimage awakens a liberation from the way of life in the hopes of improving the spiritual life of people.