What is a sacred space and what is not? In the meantime, I find it much easier to say what a sacred space is than to say what it is not.
I had always felt drawn to churches in Europe. Not to their iconography, because I always found the imagery of the Bible, a dead man on a cross, irritating. The 'sacred spaces' in the Christian world are primarily Catholic churches, because Protestant churches are by definition not sacred spaces, they are more like meeting rooms where a community comes together.
Catholic churches, or those built by Catholics, have a special aura of contemplation and silence. The sparse light, the vaults, the side aisles, the perspectives that open up in these spaces, the seclusion from civil society outside, the inside and outside, the inner and outer... all these elements have always attracted me. Time and again I went into churches, sat down for a few minutes and found peace. But there was always this cross, the guilt and forgiveness, death and despair that never let me stay there for long. For me, churches were always places of refuge for inner contemplation, no more, but also no less. My favorite thing in churches was when the organ was playing, then there was only the space and the vibration, the light, the perspective, the inside, so no material space and also no ideology or religion.
Temples in the Mediterranean region
My experience with temples in Italy, France, Greece and Egypt was completely different. In Greece and Egypt I only saw ruins, national monuments, tourist attractions. But still, the way they stand in the landscape was impressive. They are open to the elements, largely liberated from iconographic ideology by devastation and neglect, these sites are havens of a connection with nature, history, the cosmos, they bear witness to a bygone era and set the imagination free.
I think of Winkelmann and the Renaissance, the dramas of ancient Greece, the tombs of the pharaohs and hieroglyphics. These ruins are haunted by a spirit, as they say in German. This spirit of the pantheon of the gods of Olympus, which overlaps with those of the Egyptians and Romans, describes a different world. A world characterized by polytheism, mythological stories, contradictions and all-too-human conflicts. It is a mirror of social man, at least that is how I have always understood it, and I am probably not alone in this. It made sense to me that the human spirit mirrors itself in grand narratives to explore itself and share the experience. These stories then became stories of power and politics.
Temples in India
How different the temples in India are. They are alive, the tradition is anchored in the present. The gods have been worshipped since the time of the Vedas or even longer. The pantheon of gods is not a mirror of mankind, it is the origin. The gods represent the forces of the universe: physical forces, psychological and emotional forces, life forces and forces that we cannot yet name, because it would be silly to think we already know everything. So when I go to an Indian temple, it is a combination of experiences from Europe, enhanced by the experience of a living tradition that integrates different types of yoga. The Sutras are one thing, vibration is another. Vibration is the center of Indian spirituality. In the sound OM this is expressed. Matter and energy, consciousness, life are merely different forms of vibration. In Indian philosophy as interpreted by Sri Aurobindo, there are therefore 7 levels of existence: matter, life, rational mind, ideal knowledge, bliss, consciousness and pure existence. It makes no sense to try to understand Indian culture without recognizing this distinction.
When I enter a temple, I have the feeling that all these levels are activated. This activation of the holistic self is formed in the ancient temples in the form of the Vastupurusamandalas from. Vastu is the art of architecture, Purusa the primordial soul, Mandala the sacred geometric form. These three elements form the matrix of most of India's ancient great temples. So when I enter a temple, I enter a spiritual space. The temples are not a reflection of society and man's self-image, for many they are society in themselves and the core of human existence. They are based on a holistic knowledge that not only recognizes our 7 forms of existence, but also synthesizes the different forms of knowledge. Even at the time of the Veda, there was knowledge of art and music, Ayurveda, the sutras, various forms of yoga: karma (action), hatha (power), tantra (energy), bhakti (prayer), jnana (knowledge), raja (meditation).
Temples are personal universities of life.
