Kealan Sojack- phenomenological approach

Kealan Sojack- 3/12/10

This past summer I would frequent Alum Springs Park with my friends Patrick and Neil. It is a great place to walk around and collect your thoughts. With nothing manmade inside the park and numerous winding trails it makes for an interesting walk every time. One day I went there without telling my other friends and it was a much different experience. With no one to talk to me or otherwise distract me I was able to be completely in tune with what was happening around me. In Lane's book he mentions that "places themselves participate in the perception that is made of them." I feel that after learning about the phenomenological approach to understanding sacred place I can now understand the impression that the park had on me that day. I was not experiencing the forest as simply the setting for the interactions with other people but instead interacting with the features of the forest itself.