Speaking of Spirit

By definition, Sacred Text is writing that "is venerated for the worship of a deity." For some, Sacred Text is writing that has been "Divinely inspired." However, in the Harvard Divinity course I took on World Religions, we looked at sacred text as writing that inspires, enlightens and/or encourages the reader.  Therefore, poetry, prose and even graffiti can be sacred text. (Remember, the word sacred means "to hold as precious.") I have come to see there are religious Sacred (with a captial "s") texts: Torah, Bible, Qur'an, Bhagadava Gita,  etc.  But, I have also come to see other writing, such as poetry, as sacred (with a lower-case "s") texts. Let me give you an example:  Basho, a Japanese poet, who traveled around Japan practicing Zen, writing beautiful haiku. His poems are, when taken at face value, little snapshots of his day and observations, BUT, when read critically from a spiritual viewpoint, hold lovely insights in...

When I was a young girl in parochial school, sacred meant something that was very holy and almost untouchable. The consecrated hosts in the tabernacle were sacred. We didn't use this word for anything that was not related to God. As I matured and began studying world religions, I realized that sacred was used for other reasons. Often, the word meant something looked upon as precious or special, something full of awe, something for which you have the highest respect. When I first began my journey towards ordination, I came to realize that our world was filled with the sacred. Our Earth is sacred, as are all the living creature upon it. We can have sacred space in a building or garden. We can read sacred text in books, online and as graffiti. We can find sacred geometry in art and within seashells or flowers.  I believe technology has desensitized us to what is sacred. Computers, online programs, gadgets that miniaturize phones, cameras and TVs have created a sense of awe t...