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Building the Kingdom
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' living [that is being
human] is in itself a religious act; foodgetting,
sexual life and work have a sacramental value ... because they are elements
in the human mode, equivalent to the elements in the cosmic mode and
by them men share the same fate as creation, and may, by conducting
themselves according to the universal rules, successfully accomplish
their sacred role and thus play a part in returning creation at its
end to the eternal'.
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'the hogan, or mud hat, of the
Navahos of New Mexico and Arizona, is constructed on the plan of the
Navaho image of the cosmos... Every beam and joist corresponds to an
element in the great hogon of the all-embracing earth and sky
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'A village is born, lives and
dies. It is destroyed and reconstructed every 70 years. There is a world
identical to the one of the living where the villages rebuild themselves....the
individual never dies, he simply rejoins the ancestors and his district.'
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The temple's environment restated and emphasised cosmic order. The ceremonies performed there marked the pivots in the passage of cyclic time, those moments of reentry into myth and encounters with the sacred.' This re-entry into sacred time was made possible because the temple itself, whatever its architectural conception, was regarded as the centre of the universe, the place where creation was first founded. |
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'Fixed like the pole of the sky, the emperor steadied the world, and all its affairs revolved around him'. It was in his palace that 'earth and sky meet'; and 'It was his responsibility to preserve the world's order, and his capital was designed to facilitate the harmonious convergence of all influences.' |
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The arrangement of Ireland, with Leinster, Ulster,
Connaught and Munster respectively at east, north west and south and
Meath at the centre, representing the five-fold cosmic plan.
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