Shrine, Temple, Sanctuary...

I am having a debacle of wording.

Thank you Nate and Flyawaynet for your comments on the last post. Even the nitpicky ones help. Actually, I especially like nitpicky comments, Flywayanet; being out of school opens up a whole new set of possibilities, but I loose the commentary of the other students on my work. I am very much a perfectionist when it comes to making art, and so I like it when people really tell me exactly what they think, or get into little details.

So I have another question to pose:

When I was driving the other night through the woods with a friend of mine, I was watching the landscape go by and admiring it. The word 'shrine' suddenly popped into my head. I have always been sort of fascinated by old forms of functional art; religious or otherwise, and the idea of a shrine suddenly slunk its nearly obselete way into my consciousness. In Mexico there are little shrines everywhere. To different saints or places people died on the side of the highway. At this moment, I was thinking of a shrine as a place in which to engage deeply and spiritually with something; with one's surroundings, with God. But Shrines tend to be dedicated to a particular figure. so then I thought of Temple. Temples are built in almost all religions in some form. Bhuddist monks live in them. Cathedral or church are really just other words for Temple. And I think that what all of these different Temples have in common, across the globe, is that they are places that people go to actively engage with the invisible, or with the eternal within the visible.

So the reason I am bringing this up is this; I have been interested for a long time in making pieces of art that are spaces into which people can go and engage with such abstract realities; much in the way that a beautiful cathedral or a Zen rock garden can offer a space which puts everyday worries and fears into the perspective of the infinite, or or shows us the infinite within the everyday. Spaces like these can be calming, exiting, enlightening, gratifying, uplifting, restful, communal... what I mean to say is spaces from which we can see things in a broader perspective. See what really matters, and value it for what it is. I don't want to make overtly religious pieces, as I don't feel that that is really my place. That would border on instruction, which is important, but I don't think is my forte. But a place where someone could possibly go to engage for themselves, and find value in that.

The previous post is a description of such a place that I am hoping to build. The word that I finally came up with for how to describe these spaces is 'sanctuary.' It seems to be closer than any other description thus far. In medieval times, people were safe from arrest in the sanctuary of a church. And in modern times, there has been a Sanctuary movement among some southwestern churches to hide illegal immigrants running from the INS. But the simplest definition of Sanctuary is "a safe place." Not necessarily a place to engage. Although I like 'Temple,' and I don't necessarily want to eschew religious connotations entirely, (I think that there is a great deal to be said for ceremony and tradition) I also don't want to limit them by it. But I am interested in reviving these places and spaces that don't seem to be given much credence any more. The closest thing we have in our society to function in the way of the old shrines and Temples is the public park. A lovely thing, but almost too non-specific. And it almost seems like a packaging of nature; a taming and captivating of trees.

So I don't exactly know what my question is, but I would love it if anyone felt inclined to answer, or respond in any way.