Continuing on personal theology …

Our recent trip to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, among other places, reminded me of Devil’s Tower and the fact that it’s a holy place to some people. I can feel it there, and I’d like to go on pilgrimage sometime to pray and meditate there.

I don’t necessarily think that there are places in creation that are inherently more holy than any other places. All of creation is holy for having been created, however that happened.

But I also believe that there are places that, for one reason or another, human beings have felt inspired to worship in. Maybe it was exceptional beauty or unusual quietness or, in this case, an unusual and imposing rock formation. I get the feeling quite frequently that energies or emotions or powerful thoughts can lodge in places and give them a flavor. In worshipful places, that reverent energy can persist over time, giving the place an especially holy feeling. I expect that’s why old churches feel the way they do, and why newly-built ones don’t. People haven’t been praying in them long enough to steep them in reverent energy.

I really like that energy, and it’s particularly nice to encounter it in a natural setting.

Once upon a time I had a crisis of faith and it rocked everything I’d believed in to that point. For a time, I was atheist. It was rational. It was safe.

I was unhappy.

I have atheist friends and they’re just fine. This is not to judge them. Their shoes don’t fit my feet and that’s as it should be. It wasn’t for me. I started again at the most basic place: does God exist?

What an adventure!

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