Thin places-Anima Loci

 The Shrine to the Thin Places at Doonamoe in County Mayo, Ireland, designed and built by Travis Price, AIA, with his students at Catholic University.
 
“Natural places are the most basic sacred places: stones, springs, mountains, islands and trees are locations where the anima loci may be best approached. Sacred places come into being when humans recognize and acknowledge them. They are ensouled locations where we can experience elevated consciousness, receive religious inspiration and accept healing. They allow fully developed human beings to become at one with nature. There, we are no longer separated from nature by reflection. As time passes, through repetition and development, the innate qualities of sacred placed are intensified on physical and other subtler levels. The latent spirit of place is manifested on the material level.”

Celtic Sacred Landscape, Nigel Penick pg. 14

 
"A bar can be a thin place, too. A while ago, I stumbled across a very thin bar, tucked away in the Shinjuku neighborhood of Tokyo. Like many such establishments, this one was tiny — with only four seats and about as big as a large bathroom — but it inspired cathedral awe. The polished wood was dark and smooth; the row of single malts were illuminated in such a way that they glowed. Using a chisel, the bartender manifested — there is no other word for it — ice cubes that rose to the level of art. The place was so comfortable in its own skin, so at home with its own nature — its “suchness,” the Buddhists would put it — that I couldn’t help but feel the same way."

ERIC WEINER is author, most recently, of “Man Seeks God: My Flirtations With the Divine.”