Lindsey Ceniviva Reaction to Reading

When I first began reading the book, Landscapes of the Sacred, I found myself questioning its connotation. How one could “discover God in a mystic encounter” simply by being in the wilderness was very puzzling to me. I deem that if you are looking for such an experience so attentively that you may come up with it on your own. It may just be a coincidence, but since you are so in search of something miraculous that it appears to be a mystical encounter. Also, I did not completely understand how a place is not chosen to be sacred. If a particular place is not chosen in that manner than how are some of these places known around the world to be sacred? Apparently I had never experienced the wild in the same way other people had because I was so befuddled by all the stories in this book. When the author spoke of “letting yourself be there” his suggestion did not make sense to me. If you are in a location how are you not really there? A lot of the approaches and styles of these journeymen had never occurred to be before. However, I kept an open mind throughout the readings and continued to try to relate to them. Eventually I found myself wanting to experience these things others were describing and to have a mystical encounter of my own. I realized that the wilderness is a magical thing and for those who tred upon it must be open to its perceptions. I may have been a bit juvenile and judgmental in the beginning of reading about these experiences, but now I am starting to understand their perplexity and impact on human lives.