“TRAVEL IN LOCAL SPACES”
“Travel in Sacred Spaces”

by Jessica Kuzmier

     I've been reading these travelogues of people who have journeyed to far off, exotic places in search of a spiritual experience. One of them was about Alexandra David-Neel, the French Buddhist who became the first white woman to journey to the capital of Tibet, Lhasa. Sometimes, reading a book like this can give the impression that you have to travel great distances to find spiritual vortexes, as though the supernatural bypasses the pedestrian. Somehow the energy of God seems to only come from Joshua Trees and altitudes so high that you're probably getting spiritual visions just from the lack of oxygen.

     Most of the reason why vision quests are more likely found in Sedona than the local gas station in Topeka is because by their nature, sacred spaces seem to be a demarcation from the everyday hubbub of life. Most people don't feel very spiritual in rush hour traffic, or on lines six miles long just to exchange a holiday gift that was two sizes two big. Ordinary life is about getting stuff done. It's about all the important things in this life. Too many to-do lists to worry about oneness with God or what is my purpose in life. Man, if you're worried about stuff like that, with all the things that have to be done, then you don't have enough to do. Here's some extra bills and some storm debris for you to clean up. That ought to keep you busy. Even houses of worship, supposed refuges of calm in the midst of a frenetic existence, can get a little crazy themselves. With all the Vacation Bible School lessons and Sunday school lessons to be prepared, holiday decorating, and all the other committee meetings to keep church life running afloat, the calm and silence that might have enticed novitiates to join the church dissolves into a mass of chaos once he becomes part of its community.

     Most people don't live in the Himalayas or Death Valley. They live in those supposed too-busy places where you can't think. What's the deal, then? Spiritual ecstasy is only for those who have six weeks vacation every year and can afford an annual joint to Jerusalem?

     One of the other books I was reading about sacred places had this to say: that many people go to these places and find that either a) nothing happens, or b) they find themselves really agitated. In other words, these particular sites did nothing more than bring out the energy of the person that was already there. She suggested that to utilize the power of these places, one should meditate or center himself so that the peace that he experiences can be taken to new heights. Which basically told me was that this kind of enlightenment doesn't just come from Stonehenge. You could find it in a pub in South London just as easily, if it's all dependent on whether or not you already have internal peace.

     There is a pay phone near my work that's outside of one of those gas station/ convenience stores. It's one of those pay-fifty-cents-and-talk-all-you-want deals. Sometimes, when I don't want to use my minutes on my cell phone, I like to use that telephone. The gas station is near the interstate, and even though the town it's in is nowhere near the size of New York City, because of its proximity to the highway, you hardly see the same person twice in any given week getting gas. I've had some good conversations on that phone. Watching people come and go is a wild experience. They start blending together, even though they are all different ages, races, genders and the like. They are all people going somewhere who happened to be together in this particular place and time. Perhaps they would never see each other again, perhaps if they knew each other they would feud over religion or some other thing that can be reduced to utter nonsense. But for now, their commonality of getting coffee and gas and their being on some journey temporarily united them. Sometimes I find the blurring of identities in itself spiritual- the idea that we are all one soul, or all saved by Jesus, or whatever spiritual unifier that you want to use to denote the fact that ego is diluted in the realm of the spirit. And yet they all have separate journeys that they individually have to take.

     Sometimes I get coffee at this same convenience store before I go to work in the morning. There are these retired guys who sit at one of the tables near the ATM machine. As other people pay for gas, get instant egg sandwiches, and playing the lottery, these guys sit there all morning, constantly refilling their coffees. They talk sports. Baseball, pro football, college football, pro basketball, college basketball. You know it's some kind of playoff season when all of them are there. From their conversation it's hard to determine their allegiances. They talk about drafts, who should be benched on this team, who has the best running back on that team, who's going to be in the Final Four this March. They just seem to like talking sports. Their religious attendance to this chat is more faithful than probably a lot of people who go to religious services.

     This sacred space is no organic health spa. Fast food rules here. Get your neon-warmed breakfast sandwich and eat a heated soft pretzel for lunch with some nachos. You can splurge and get a cold cut sandwich for lunch; hey, those veggies on it are fresh. For your convenience, there is a microwave if you really want to go for the gusto and have some canned ravioli for dinner. As you wait on line for people's gas orders to go through, you can obtain reading material in the impulse section, such as reading how the tabloids have cracked the real deal behind Trista and Ryan's wedding, or if you want something that more people might consider factual, the magazine rack is right by the counter, near the We Card sign. You can get your cigarettes and your lottery tickets here as well. They make some really good coffee here. And the flavored cappuccinos aren't bad, either.

     God's children convene everywhere. I don't believe that it's necessary to go far to get spiritual energy. In my experience, it's only necessary to stop running, stop having your mind run on automatic, and look around at what's in front of you. Whether it is in the Redwood Forest or waiting on a checkout line, you can choose to center yourself anywhere.