Jenna Wall: Lane's Approaches

Jenna Wall - 4/23

Lane’s ontological approach explains that supernatural forces have invaded the ordinary and the land is separate from everything profane. The ordinary land is empowered by supernatural forces, causing one to have a sacred experience. Whenever one escapes the pressures of everyday life and goes into a natural setting they are able to experience this. The cultural approach describes a sacred place as a social perception of reality. The scared experience may be thought of in different ways by different people. Some people may not find a nook in the woods to be as sacred as others. The phenomenological approach states that the place itself participates in the perception made. If it were not for the events that occurred at the location in the past, the perception of the wilderness would not be the same.