What’s that which we call “the sacred”
That which is valuable beyond measure, bridging the gap between the present and everlasting? Or that which invokes our wonder and astonishment? Or perhaps something a bit more prosaic? Say, an ocean’s shimmering waves at dawn or a constellation of stars at night? The sacred, a concept akin to the miraculous, silences by providing a window to the infinite. To say that all of life is sacred is to suggest the presence of something beyond, a presence infinitely more powerful than anything that can be understood by reason alone. It can be easy to miss. Yet the everyday sacred exists at all times, everywhere. To acquire a sense of the sacred, particularly when least expected, opens up an entirely new way of seeing, of living. Perhaps it’s best expressed as a form of fascination: enlightenment achieved by the simple act of paying close attention. One’s sense of the sacred in fact shapes one’s reality. For how else can reality be understood? Appearances can deceive, reason reaches its limit, while the essence of things lingers just out of reach.
An appreciation of the everyday sacred is vital to the legal enterprise since law at its most abstract seeks to impose order—and that which is sacred ultimately manifests itself as a form of perfect orderliness. In fact, recognizing the hidden patterns that best explain reality has always been a first intellectual task. A typical case, which applies a rule to a set of facts, fits this archetype where some sense of order is sought to be recognized in the face of chaos. I’m not referring to legal reasoning—what’s being described here goes beyond the mechanics of resolving a particular case. Nor am I referring to a particular set of social beliefs or practices that a society may chose to adopt at any given time. Rather, what’s at stake here can only be seen in the mysterious region between “that which can be explained” and “that which is beyond explanation.” Residing just beyond the threshold of perception, the everyday sacred makes itself known in much the same way as a lightening strike follows a roll of thunder.
One’s work takes on new meaning to the extent one draws upon this power. It’s replenishing and inexhaustible. It puts into perspective the minor toils of work and life, the cyclical mirage of success or failure, the labyrinthine odyssey of one’s days and years. It taps into the deepest wellspring, pure and life-affirming. Works and days—there’s no such thing as an insignificant task. The everyday sacred transforms what it touches, the simplest work takes on a new light, giving rise to a breakthrough, an otherworldly transfiguration. And, as some come to learn, once the everyday sacred is recognized as an innate aspect of reality, any skepticism regarding its existence readily dissolves. Events come to assume a new order as if seen through a looking glass. The random, the arbitrary, the non-linear—these are seen as no longer the product of chance but are to be expected as part of a greater design.
The concept of living as a battle, or a conflict, or a series of challenges to be overcome gives way to an entirely different view, one of simplicity, alignment, and congruence. Such a mindset comes to restore itself with its own sense of perfect orderliness. By the way, there’s no “therefore” with which to end these thoughts. No facile conclusion to be drawn. No “surely” or “clearly” which easily applies. Indeed, it may seem anomalous to some to raise this idea outside its normal context. But seeing the sacred as yet another dimension of reality can be viewed as nothing more than a simple insight—and simplicity transcends complexity in every field, including law.
