Man Makes His Home at the Center of the World

Belden C. Lane points out in Landscapes of the Sacred that "Sacred place is very often ordinary place, ritually set apart to become extraordinary." It is declared unique and the ordinary is re-consecrated as the holy. In class we discussed how religious man has always sought to fix his abode at the center of the world. He does this by way of myth and heirophany, or sacred manifestation. Heirophany provides man with a fixed point and center, or axis mundi by which he orients himself to the world. The heirophany also provides man with an existential value. In contemplating the various peoples of the world and their respective mythic/religious beliefs that inform them about themselves and the world around them I was struck by the truth of the statement above that man has always desired to establish his dwelling place at the center of the world. For Jews and Christians, Jerusalem is considered to be the center of the world because that is their storied place. For Incans, Machu Picchu is their center because that is where Manco and Mama visited them and taught them the right way to live and interact with the earth. For a small tribe of Native Americans out west, it is the sepapu that is the axis mundi because that is the place of emergence where humans crawled up into the world. One must bear in mind that it is not the geographic center that is being referred to, but rather the sacred center.