Sacred Space, Profane Space, Human Space

Author(s): Larry E. Shiner

Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec., 1972), pp. 425-436
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1460891
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 SacredSpace,Profane Space,Human Space
LARRY E. SHINER

IN ALMOST everyperiodWestern intellectual life hasbeenpreoccupied with

the problem of time and history. In the last fifty years this preoccupation
has become an obsession, especially in literatureand theology. Like most
obsessionsit has tended to numb our perception for other realmsof experience.
As philosophy of religion and theology stir toward a wider consciousness,they
are slowly beginning to focus on the realmof natureand space. Of course,there
have long been premonitionsof this turn towardnature. Some of the intellectual
forces which were responsible for our fascination with time such as relativity
theory or existential phenomenology have also held out new perspectives on
space. Among the studentsof religiousphenomena,however,only van der Leeuw
and Eliade have given space equal prominence with time.' Although in this
respect, as in so many others, we owe a tremendousdebt to their work, much
remainsto be accomplishedif we are fully to appreciatethe religious valorization
of space and begin to lay the foundations for an existential understandingof
nature. One of the first tasks that needs to be taken up is to clarifythe meaning
of "sacredspace." My contributiontoward that end is to show how the typical
polarityof sacredand profanespacehas been overdrawnto the point of obscuring
the actualcharacterof human spatialityin its manifold dimensions. In place of
this radicalpolarityI will sketchin a descriptionof "livedspace"and will suggest
that lived space is the possibility of both the homogenousspace of objectifying
thought and the luminosityof sacredplaces. My procedurewill be (1) to brief-
ly summarizeEliade'sconceptionof sacredand profanespace since it is the most
complete and sophisticatedaccountwe now have, (2) to describethe structures
of "livedspace,"(3) to reconsiderthe concept of sacredspace and profane space
in light of the analysisof humanspatiality. My quarrelis less with the qualities
which Eliade, van der Leeuw, Isaac and others usually attributeto sacred space
than with the polarizationof the data which resultswhen the concept is applied.
It will be arguedthat distortionsof both present and past spatial experienceare

'Mircea Eliade,The Sacredand the Profane,New York: Harper& Row, 1961; Patterns
in CompartiveReligion, New York: MeridianBooks, 1963. G. Van der Leeuw, Reli-
gion in Essenceand Manifestation,Vol. II, New York, 1963. Importantwork on the
problem of sacredspace has also been done by the geographerof religions Erich Isaac.
See "TheAct and the Covenant,"Landscape,Vol. XI, Winter 1961-1962, pp. 12-17; "God's
Acre,"Landscape,Vol. XIV, Winter 1964-1965, pp. 28-32.

LARRY E. SHINER is AssociateProfessorof Philosophy,SangamonState University.

JAAR XL/4 (Dec. 1972) O AAR

426 LARRY B. SHINER

bound to occur unless the conceptsof sacredand profane space are rooted in an
analysisof the structuresof human spatiality.
1. SACRED AND PROFANE SPACE

Although Eliade'sconcern with sacred and profane space is a concern with

experiencenot conceptually,his own presentationis, of course,conceptual. In
keeping with his polar understandingof sacred and profane, he describes the
contrastingspatial experiencesof homo religiosus and modern, profane man in
terms of a series of opposites: homogeneity/heterogeneity,quantity/quality,
chaos/cosmos, relativity/absoluteness. Profane space is above all homogenous
and neutral,"withoutstructureor consistency,amorphous."2Such relativity and
lack of orientationis virtuallyequivalentto an experienceof space as chaos. For
sacred space comes about-as do all sacred phenomena for Eliade-through a
hierophany. This manifestationof the "real,"or "power,"or "being"founds a
world by "revealinga fixed point, the central axis for all future orientation."3
Not only does the hierophanybreakthe continuityof profane space, it also cuts
an opening for communicationbetween cosmic planes. According to Eliade,
these hierophaniesneed not be as explicit as Jacob'sdream. Insteada sign may
be given or even provoked,e.g., by turning an animal loose to wanderand then
acceptingthe spot where he is later found and sacrificedas the designatedlocus
of village or altar.4 Techniquesof orientationare particularlyimportantin the
selection or constructionof high holy places such as centralceremonialgrounds,
sanctuariesor cities. Here an additional aspect in the consecrationof sacred
space comes into play, since these ceremonies are seen as a repetition of the
work of the gods. By repeating"thearchetypeof the sacredspace in illo tempore"
the chaos of the unknownor uncultivatedterritoryis transformedinto a cosmos,
a world.5 The chief symbolismin all these consecrations,accordingto Eliade,is
the symbolismof the Center. Whether village or city, grove or mountain,house
or sanctuary,any place consecratedby the hierophanymay come to be honoredas
the navel of the cosmos, the junction of heaven, earth and underworld." In
Eliade'sinterpretationthen, the principal characteristicsof sacredspace are that
it (1) marksa break in the homogeneityand amorphousnessof hitherto undif-
ferentiatedspace, (2) these breaksprovide a spatial orientationespeciallywhen
they bear the symbolismof the Center as almost all major breaksdo, (3) the
Centeris also an axis mundi, a breakin plane which createsan opening between
cosmic levels, (4) by consecratingboth a horizontal point of reference and a
vertical axis of communicationa world is founded, (5) this foundation is seen
as a repetitionof the primordialact of creationby the gods.

*Eliade,Sacredand Profane,p. 20.

3Ibid.,p. 21.
' Eliade, Patterns, 370.
p.
5Ibid.,p. 372.
lIbid., pp. 375-78.
SACRED SPACE, PROFANE SPACE, HUMAN SPACE 427

2. LIVED SPACE
In the discussion which follows the conventionalpublic idea of space as a
homogenouscontinuum will play the role of a foil. Homogeneity means that
every point is of equal value to every other point, that no directionhas any privi-
lege over any other, that space is continuousand infinite. Human spatialitywill
be presentedas if thisviewrepresents lessa faithfulaccountof ournativeexperi-
enceof spacethana specialkindof abstraction.Of course,thereis no doubtthat
eventhe unreflective everyday spatialexperienceof literateWesterners is strong-
ly influenced by this of
concept space as a homogenous qualitylessmedium.
and
It is alreadyimpressed on the smallchildthroughhis normalfamilialassociations
andtheninculcated alongwithclockandcalendar timein theearlygrades. Yet if
we look morecloselyand withoutprejudicewe will discoverrichesof spatial
orientationandconceptionwhichdo not fit the conventional geometricizedap-
proach. The variegatedphenomenaof territoriality in men and animals,the
spatialexplorations of architectureandpainting,the differencesin socialdistance
and urbanorganization fromsocietyto society,the temporalized spaceof rela-
tivitytheory-all thesesuggestthatwithinWesternculturethereis moreto space
thanmeetsthe measuringeye.7 And when we turnto culturesquite different
fromourown,whetherto a non-linealarchaicsocietysuchas thatof the Trob-
riandIslandsor to traditionalJapaneseculturewhichtreatsthe interval(ma)
not as a characterlessvoidbut as possessingformandsignificanceof its own,we
areforcedto admitthatthe "common sense"viewof spacedoesnotrepresentthe
essentialspatialityof our world.8 It is but a parochialconvention,albeitone
whichhasprovedusefulandfor somepurposesquitepowerfulindeed.
In the firstplacethe normativeWesternview of spacedoes not reflectthe
environingcharacter of ourexperiences of space;it missesthe waywe live spa-
tially. We do not nativelyexperiencespaceas a kindof containerin whichwe
findourselvesalongwith a collectionof objects. If we stepbackfromourcon-
ventionalpresuppositions we will beginto see thatspaceis a populatedenviron-
mentwe inhabit.9We arenot "in"spaceas shoesarein a box. Oursituationis
rathermorelike thatof a deerin a clearing,alert,totallyawareof hersurround-
ings,instinctuallysensibleof the criticaldistanceshemustmaintainfrompossible
predators.Throughour bodieswe are intimatelyintermingledwith our sur-
roundings.Farfromappearingas an abstractcontinuum,humanspaceis per-

7 For social space in cross-cultural perspective see E. T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension,
New York: Doubleday, 1966. There are numerous works on space in the arts. Particu-
larly useful for the way they reflect on the general problem of human spatiality are Bruno
Zevi, Architecture as Space, New York, Horizon Press, 1957; John White, The Birth and
Rebirth of Pictoral Space, London: Faber and Faber, 1967; Marshall McLuhan and Harley
Parker, Through the Vanishing Point, New York: Harper & Row, 1968; Gaston Bache-
lard, The Poetics of Space, New York: Orion Press, 1964.
'
Dorothy Lee, Freedom and Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1959, p. 56.
SMaurice Merleau-Ponty, La Phenomenologie de la Perception, Paris: Gallimard, 1945,
p. 162.
428 LARRY E. SHINER

ceived as a horizon peopled with familiar beings whose distancesand directions

are impregnatedwith meanings. Ratherthan an empty receptaclein which ob-
jects are located, space begins to appear as something which is given by the
relationof the trees and houses,of the highways,mountainsand rivers which de-
fine our possibilities of vision and movement.
The environing characterof space is perhaps best seen by considering the
phenomenonof territoriality. Certainlyterritorialitymust be consideredone of
the fundamentalconstantsof both humanand animallife.10 Fundamentally,ter-
ritory is a world, the familiarhabitator homelandfor a society or an individual
It has its roughly defined outer limits and varied zones within and its "center."
Although no longer instinctualin man, the role of national territoryor the do-
main of a particularstreet gang or simply the tendencyof each of us to think in
termsof "our"neighborhood,underlinesthe persistenceof territoriality. Within
the largerboundsof the territorywhich we think of as our own there are familiar
and cherishedplaces, danger spots and spaces of special function such as play-
groundsor civic centers. In addition to the varieties of place and their signifi-
cance there are our accustomedpathways,some of which we take as a matter of
habit or convenience but others which are specially chosen for their aesthetic
qualityor becausethey follow an historic route, etc.
As an environmentor territory,lived space is known primarilythrough our
moving about in it. Studies of depth awarenesshave shown that perception
alone cannotgive us three dimensionality." Only by walking througha building
or a city squaredo we come to sense its spatiality. In trying to find adequate
categoriesfor his social psychologyKurt Lewin came to the conclusionthat the
usual conceptof physicalspacewas inadequateto expressthe characterof human
spatiality. Borrowingfrom the non-Euclidiangeometries,he spoke of life space
as a hodological space (from Gr. hodos, way), meaning a "finitely structured
space, that is, its parts are not infinitely divisible but are composed of certain
units or regions. Direction and distance are defined by "distinguishedpaths,"
which can easily be coordinatedto psychologicallocomotion."12 Lived space is
kinestheticbecauseit is composedof pathwaysfor movement-the enclosureof
the house or factory,the piazza, the street, the gateways,or simply the gaps be-
tween the trees of a park or the flower beds of a garden. Human space is this

"1The best known studies on animal territoriality and its implications for human spa-
tiality are Konrad Lorenz On Aggression, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966, and
Robert Ardrey, The Territorial Imperative, New York: Athenum, 1966. Both Lorenz and
Ardrey have come under sharp attack, cf. Man and Aggression, M. F. Ashley Montagu, ed.,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. Sociological studies dealing with territoriality
are Robert Sommer, Personal Space, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1969; Stanford M.
Lyman and Marvin B. Scott, "Territoriality: A Neglected Sociological Dimension," in
Social Psychology Through Symbolic Interaction, ed. by Gregory P. Stone & Harvey S.
Farberman, Waltham, Mass.: Ginn-Blaisdell, 1970.
1
Hall, op. cit., p. 115.
"Kurt Lewin, Field Theory in Social Science, New York: Harper & Row, 1951, p. 26.
SACREDSPACE, PROFANE SPACE, HUMAN SPACE 429

separationof things which gives the possibility of movement, of coming closer

and bringing closer, of a "here"and "there."'3
In lived space distanceis alwaysa matter of the kind of relation we have to
anotherpersonor locale. Distance arisesfrom the characterof our bodily orien-
tation in an environmentand must be understoodin terms of specific intentions
to bring or come nearor get far from something. When we estimateor calculate
distancesin our ordinaryexperienceit is usuallyin such active terms as "within
reach,""walking distance,""driving time."'4 Direction in lived space is not
only related to our purposive involvement with things but the territory itself
comes to be ordered in terms of privileged directions. Not only may the en-
vironing territoryhave its center or centers of political, economic or spiritual
focus but such rudimentaryindicatorsas up and down, right and left come to
bear a certain symbolic weight. Correspondingly,the places of lived space are
not abstractlocationson a grid but centers of human activity. If one thinks of
the districtsof a city such as Boston or New York with their complex identities
combining ethnic, economic, commercialand culturalaspects, it is evident that
the "North End" or the "LowerEast Side" are not merely terrains of definite
geophysical location and size but territories whose symbolic meanings define
their location and significance in human space.
As comparedto the homogeneityand indifferenceof geometricalspace,lived
spaceis heterogenousand discontinuous. It is tied to humanaims and meanings;
its orientations and places are interlaced with symbolic associations. Human
space is less a matter of "positions"than of "situations,"of intersectingcoordi-
nates than of "sites."' As the encompassinghabitat of human life, where dis-
tance,direction and place are determinedby valuationand purposivemovement,
lived space is permeatedwith human significance.

3. LIVED SPACE, SACRED SPACE

If we put the basic characteristicsof lived space alongsideEliade'scharacter-
ization of sacred space, the parallels are remarkable. The most fundamental
mark of sacredas opposed to profane space is also the preeminentcharacteristic
of lived space: it is heterogenous. One simply cannot characterizethe spatiality
of modern man's life-world as "without structureor consistency,amorphous.""'
Nor can it be assertedthat the "profane"man of modern industrialsocieties ex-
periences no privileged orientationin space. There may indeed be a tendency
to find centersof significance and orientationmore dispersedand more special-
ized, e.g., the "capitals"of politics, finance, art, mode. But even though the

'Heidegger designates the fundamental spatiality of human being-in-the-world as Ent

fernung (de-severance). It is the relation of making something far come near by. "Dasein
is essentially de-severant; it lets any entity be encountered close by as the entity which it
is." Being and Time, New York: Harper & Row, 1962, p. 139.
1 Ibid., pp. 140-141.
" Merleau-Ponty, op. cit., p. 116.
1 Eliade, Sacred and Profane, p. 200.
430 LARRYE. SHINER

"centers"and their symbolism have developed specialized functions the spatial

landscapeis not a chaos. On the contrarythe surface of the earth is just as
orderedand specified symbolicallyin modern as it is in archaicsocieties. Even
at the most elementarylevel of human experience,space is organizedas a world,
as a meaningfulenvironment. One could arguethat "being-in-the-world"(Hei-
degger) or being-towardthe world (Merleau-Ponty) are fundamentalstructures
of the human mode of being rather than peculiaritiesof religious man. Far
from requiring a hierophanyto found a world, man and world are correlative.
Lived space is a world, it is there primordiallyas the human environment.
Of course,Eliaderecognizesthat modernman still experiencessome orienta-
tion and some privileged places. But he treats these as mere survivals since
heterogeneityis, in his words, "peculiarto the religious experience of space.""7
Accordingly,"profaneman's"experienceof spatial heterogeneityis dismissedas
a "degradationand desacralizationof religious values."18 An example of the ex-
tremes to which so polarizeda view of the modern ("profane") experience of
space can lead is his characterizationof the modern house with Le Corbusier's
famous phrase "a machine to live in." Eliade dismissesthe modern house as a
merely functional and interchangeableproduct of industry.19 However, if we
put the "house-machine" phrasein the context of the whole book from which it
it
came, appears as a criticism not of the archaicdwelling but of the literally
spiritlesspastices eclecticism.20 Moreover,not only Le Corbusierbut numer-
of
ous architectsof the InternationalSchool see the design of houses,buildings and
cities as a spiritual activity, indeed, as the founding of a world. "Architecture
is the first manifestationof man creating his own universe."21
If we begin our investigationof sacredspace from the concept of lived space
ratherthan the sacred/profanedichotomy,the analysisof modern sacred space
and "survivals"can be put on a sounder footing. There are no doubt some
modern spatial orientations and valorizations which are survivals and others
which are outright continuationslittle altered in essentials from remote times.
As survivalsone can point to the usual public dedicationceremonywhich has a
primarilypragmatic aim such as political reinforcementor cultivating alumni
supportbut is also overlaidwith invocationsof God, ancestors,the "spirit"of the

1 Ibid.,p. 24.
18Ibid.
1 Ibid,pp. 50-51.
' See, for example, the opening chapterof Le Courbusier'searly manifestowhere he
rails against the architecturalschools and the public demand for "historicalsouvenirs."
Towardsa New Architecture,London:John Rodeker,1931, pp. 13-17. On this point see
also Vincent Scully, Jr., Modern Architecture,New York: George Braziller, 1961, pp.
42-48.
"*Le Corbusier,op. cit., p. 17. To be sure the "rationalism"of Corbusier'stheory is
even more pronouncedthan that of most contemporaryarchitects,but he believes he is
picking up motifs which are ancient. One ought to considerhis discussionof the geo-
metricalorder to be found in the buildings of archaicsocieties,in Ancient India, Egypt,
Greeceand Rome. See pp. 41-52, 69-74, 153-173.
SACRED SPACE, PROFANE SPACE, HUMAN SPACE 431

institutionor place. Obviously,the sense of awe and expectationwhich one may

feel in a Roman Catholic sanctuaryis not a survivalbut a continuation. Even
more striking examples of continuationscan be found in the house-building
practicesof rural peoples in Central and South Europe.22 On the other hand,
much of the centeringand differentiationof zones of variedspiritualsignificance
which occurs in the modern period is neither a direct continuationnor a mere
vestige of the past but a new expressionof our fundamentalhuman spatializing
activity. Although modern building, siting, and town planning has produced
much that reflects mere economic and political expediency,there are places and
buildings which do embody and define spaces of great power. To take an un-
likely example,considerthe ascent in the Eiffel Tower, that productof mechani-
cal industry and pure engineering. As a result of the interplay of inner and
outer spacethroughthe open framework,the lightness of the whole as compared
to the massivesteel beams,the constantlychanging perspectiveas we move to a
vantagelooking over the whole of the city lying astridethe Seine, we look down
on the orderand unity of the city like gods and we find this most mechanisticof
structureson which we stand, to be an expressionof spirit, of light, of air, of
constantly interpenetratingspaces. Or consider Frank Lloyd Wright's famous
"FallingWater"where the chthonianresonancesare counteredby the abundance
of light and the plasticityof interior spaceswhile its massive stone and concrete
exterior forms bespeak endurance. It uses the productsof the machine to tri-
umph over the merely mechanicaland functional,to reinstate the spirit of the
waters,of the earthand woods, and to shelterand give free space for the spirit of
man. Numerousother buildings and city plans both old and new come to mind,
but perhapsit will be enough if we cite a few of the monumentalworks of Le
Corbusier:the Unite d'Habitationat Marseilles,Ronchamp,LaTourette,the High
Court Building at Chandigarh. Naturally,the extent to which any of the pre-
eminent contemporaryspatial foci evoke the kind of awe and enchantmentof
being characteristicof sacredplaces is a matter to be settled by analysisof each
case. Certainly,all are emphaticallyhuman,seeking to expressthe human scale,
the human experience of spatiality. But the idea that the most characteristic
contemporaryarchitectureis for that reason a kind of spiritless functionalism
which ignores its cosmic context is a gross misunderstanding. In the words of
Bruno Zevi, the

imperativethat is now guiding and inspiring modern town planning and archi-
tecturein its functionalistorigin and organic development,is not to be inter-
preted as a materialisticor merely practicalexigency. In effect it is a great
religious movement, not inferior in force and suggestion to the religious and

22 ,. .. when the cornerstonewas laid the family and relativescame together,cut the
throat of a cock, and let the blood spill on the four cornersof the house, selecting the
eastern corner first . . . in the cornerstone . . . the family buried earth from a sacred place
near the village where they had found a treasuredikon of the Holy Virgin." Irwin T.
Sanders,Rainbow in the Rock: The People of Rural Greece,Cambridge:HarvardUni-
versityPress, 1962, p. 54.
432 LARRYE. SHINER

spiritualmovementswhich inspired the spatial conceptionsof the past, a move-

ment which is immanentin aim becauseit is human, but which goes beyond
problems of circumstantialcomfort to face the life and death problems of a
society in which the individualcravesfreedomand seeks passionatelyfor an in-
tegration of his culture.'

However, there remain two characteristicsof sacredspace in Eliade'sformu-

lation which are only faintly reflected in contemporarylived space. One is the
notion of a breakin plane which opens a communicationbetween cosmic levels,
the other is the idea that the act of foundationis a repetition of a divine estab-
lishment. Both these concern aspectsof sacredspace which assureto its center-
ednessan absolutecharacterand referenceto anotherworld. Whether the fading
of absolutismand supernaturalismhas meant an unmitigatedimpoverishmentof
ourmodernlife is beyondthe scopeof our presentconsiderations.What does
matter is that the mere absenceof an absolutepoint of referencewhich connects
us with the world(s) beyond does not leave in a spatial chaos,without orienta-
tion or places of intrinsic significance. That one no longer sees his own temple
or his own capital as the absolutecenter or as paradigmaticallylinked to a trans-
cendentworld,doesnotmeanthatthereareno placesof awewherewe feel com-
pelledto "takeoff ourshoes." Nor doesit meanthereareno centerswhichem-
bodyin theirnameandspatialorderrecollections of "other"humanworldsnow
into
passed memory. No doubt there aresome tendencies towardthe disorienta-
tion andflatteningof humanspatialexperiencetoday. But it is unacceptable to
oppose the sacredspace of homo religiosusto the supposedly profanizedand dis-
orientedspatialityof modernindustrialmanandthen dismissthe spiritualcon-
tent of modernspatialityas a merevestigeor survival.
If the sacred/profane polarityfalsifiesourcontemporary experienceof space,
we cannothelp askingif it does completejusticeto the spatialorientations of
previouspeoples. Some recentFrench research on spatialsymbolizationin Clas-
sicalGreececastsfurtherdoubton the adequacyof the sacred/profane dichot-
omy as an interpretivetool. There is no question thata greatdealof symbolism
whichmatchesEliade'sor vanderLeeuw'scriteriafor sacredspacemaybe found
in AncientGreeceas well as the FarEast,for example,the omphalos,a hillock
of dirtor a conicalstonewhichborethe numinosity of Earthherselfandof which
it signifiedthe Center.24VincentScully'sstudyof Greektempleshasunderlined
the importance of the relationbetweenhumanconstruction andthe sacralityof
the formsandspacesof the naturallandscape.25Oneof the mostcharacteristic
manifestationsof Greek sacred space was the hestia, the circularhearth which
formedthe centerof the houseandaroundwhichvariousritessuchas marriage
'
Zevi, op. cit., pp. 158-159.
"Louis Gernet, "Sur le symbolismpolitique en Gr&ceAncienne: le Foyer Commun,"
Cahiersinternationauxde Sociologie, Vol. XI, 1951, p. 22. An excellent summaryof
Asian themes which supportsmuch of Eliade'sanalysis is R. A. Stein "Architectureet
peniee religieuseen extreme-orient,"
Arts Asiatique,Vol. 4, No. 3, 1957, pp. 163-186.
SVincentScully,The Earth,the Temple, and the Gods, New York: Praeger,1969.
SACRED SPACE, PROFANE SPACE, HUMAN SPACE 433

and the depositionof the infant took place.26 The hestia was also the seat of the
goddess Hestia who accordinglysymbolizedthe solidity and immobility of the
cosmos as well as the centerednessof enclosed,domesticspace. Not only did the
hestia anchorthe house to the earthbut throughthe roof opening over it the god's
portion of the meals cooked on the hearthrose to the world above.27 If we con-
sider Hestia together with her usual consort, Hermes, who representsthe open
space of the world of shepherdsand tradersas she representsthe closed space of
familial gathering, we have a comprehensiveimage of both the masculine and
feminine aspectsof Greek spatial experience.

The couple Hermes-Hestiaexpressesin its polaritythe tension which marksthe

archaicrepresentationof space: space demandsa center,a fixed point of privi-
leged value from which one can orient and define qualitativelydifferent direc-
tions; but at the same time space is the place of movement,which implies the
possibilityof transitionand passagefrom any point to any other."

So far there appearslittle in what we have said aboutGreek spatialsymbolism

which would suggest the inadequacyof the usual sacred/profanepolarity. How-
ever, if we reflect for a moment on the spatial significance of the figure of
Hermes we cannot help wondering whethtr in symbolizingmovement in space
as the "transition... from any point to any other"Hermes does not indicate an
experienceof the homogeneityof space. Yet it hardlyseems appropriateto term
this homogeneity profane since it is the medium of the god himself. At the
least the figure of Hermes shows that even in archaicGreece space was not al-
ways conceived in terms of hierophanticpoints which defined orientation and
provided communicationwith other cosmic levels. However, the implications
of the figure of Hermes are less decisive for our questioning of the interpretive
value of the sacred/profanepolarity than is the transformationin the spatial
meaning of Hestia once she becomesHestia Koine, the common hearthfound in
many of the majorcities. In the Hestia Koine we no longer have an analogyto
the omphaloswith its chthonianconnectionsnor even a direct reflection of the
relatively mild numinosity associatedwith the hestia, but a primarilypolitical
center. Of course,in Greece hardlyanything was political without at the same
time being religious and vice versa. Nevertheless,the sacrificesand the com-
munal meals held at the common hearth were primarilyacts of political repre-
sentation and solidarity rather than consecrations or renewals of chthonian
powers. The Hestia Koine signifies a new representationof social space since
men can arrange it as they like, can organize it anywhere and even move it
about.29

"Jean-Pierre Vernant, "Hestia-Hermes, Sur 1'expression religieuse de 1'espace et de

mouvement chez les Grecs," L'homme: revue francaise d'anthropologie, Vol. 8, No. 3,
1963, pp. 24-28, 40-15.
N
Ibid., p. 48.
21
Ibid.,p. 15.
"
Gernet, op. cit., p. 42.
434 LARRY
E. SHINER

From the time of Cleisthenes (VI century B.C.) the "rational"characterof

the Hestia Koine'was accentuated. As L6vequeand Vidal-Naquet have shown,
a decisive political reformoccurredunderCleistheneswhich shifted the principle
of political organizationfrom that of clan representationto a purely territorial
basis.30 The city and countrysidewere divided into areas,with the reorganized
agoraat their center. The agorabecamethe site of the assemblyhall for the 500
elected representativesof the new spatiallyconceivedterritoriesand these repre-
sentativeswere given the right of being lodged at the common hearth (Hestia
Koine). Under this arrangementthe common hearthdefines a centeredspace,
to be sure,but one which is organizedon a principle of human equality (homo-
geneity) ratherthan in terms of proximity to a manifestationof the sacred. In
the words of Jean-PierreVernant,"the hearthlost its chthoniandealings,its cos-
mic implications;it excluded mystery." If we are "still in a religious context,"
he continues,"it is a new form of religion, a religion itself political, and in the
balanceof the two terms it is the latter that weights most ...",31 In sum:

As compared to former spatial, temporal and numerical representations, charged

with religious values, new frameworks of experience develop which respond to
the organizational needs of the world of the city, this properly human world
where citizens deliberate and decide on their common business for themselves.8"

One possible characterizationof the shifts which occur in sixth centuryAth-

ens is to speak of a secularizationor the inaugurationof a lay state.33 But as
Roland Crahayhas pointed out, to speak of "secularization" with respect to the
classicalperiod in Ancient Greece is to introducea distinctiontotally foreign to
Greek thought.34 If the secular/religiouspolarityis inadequateto grasp what is
going on here, the usual sacred/profanedichotomy is even less so. Cleisthenes
did not inauguratea political order in which space was treatedas a homogenous
medium without orientation or significant direction. On the contrary,it is a
space decisively oriented to its political center, a center which still bears traces
of the symbolismof Hestia. Yet this new space is also homogenousin the sense
that it lies about its center as an egalitariandeterminantof political representa-
tion. Although what happens is not a secularizationin the modern sense, "the
notion of center, as it appearsin the political symbolismof the common hearth,
has taken on a markedlypositive and abstractcharacter."35If we were to try to
understandwhat happens here using the customarysacred/profanepolarity,we

80 Pierre IUv&queet Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Clisthdne l'Athenian, Paris: Les Belles-Lettres,

1964.
8 Jean-Pierre Vernant, "Espace et organization politique en Grece Ancienne," Annales,
Economics,Sociitds,Civilizations,20, 1965, p. 579.
82Ibid., p. 518.
m
Ibid.,p. 579.
8 Roland Crahay, "The Political Background of the Religious View of Man in Ancient
Greece," Diogenes, Vol. 41, 1963, pp. 60f.
85Vernant, "Espace et organisation politique ... " p. 579.
SACRED SPACE, PROFANE SPACE, HUMAN SPACE 435

would have to describethe spatial experienceof the sixth centuryB.C. Athenian

in the same terms Eliade reservesfor the citizen of modern, profane industrial
society where supposedlyonly faint survivalsof the sacredpunctuate an other-
wise homogenousspace.
If the sacred/profanepolarity is inadequateto characterizethe kind of spa-
tiality which emerges in the developmentof the Hestia Koine and its amalgam
with Cleisthenesreforms,what conceptscan we use? It seemsto me Vernanthit
upon the right term when he spoke of the new spatial experience as respond-
ing to the needs of the "worldof the city, this properlyhuman world where citi-
zens deliberateand decide for themselves."36If we begin with a sacred/profane
or religious/secular dichotomy every piece of evidence tends to get polarized
from the beginning and we end up with artificialparadoxes. On the other hand,
if we begin with the concept of human spatiality,of lived space with its funda-
mentally heterogenous,oriented and meaningful organization,we can accommo-
date the kinds of extreme phenomena for which the concepts of sacred and
profane space were developed without distorting the phenomenawhich lie be-
tween these poles.
I am aware that the course I have pursued in impugning the value of the
sacred/profanepolarityas an interpretivecategoryfor the historyand philosophy
of religion has run roughshodover some delicate hermeneuticalissues since I
have in part based my critique on an interpretationof both contemporaryand
ancient spatialexperience. In cases of rival interpretationswhich take different
startingpoints a few examples, even if successfullyinterpreted,do not make a
proof. I can draw some comfort, however, from the fact that those who put
forth the sacred/profanepolarity as a starting point are in a similar situation.
We all start with our own world and read backwardfinding expressionsever
more strangeto our own experience and yet for all their strangenessstriking a
sympatheticresonance. What shall we take as paradigmatic-the differencesor
the similarities? Shall we start by contrastingthe profanityof modern city life
with the sacralitywhich pervadesso many aspects of traditionalvillage life, or
shall we start with the territorialityand orientation to centers of functional or
historicalmeaning which is commonto both modernand traditionalmen? I am
suggesting the latter starting point becauseI believe it can do justice to the ex-
perienceswhich are intendedin the usual opposition of sacredand profanespace
without falling into the temptationof pressing every past or present spatial phe-
nomenon into the dichotomousmold.
The argumentsand evidence I have presentedshould at least caution the his-
torian or philosopherof religion to be more exact in his definition and applica-
tion of the sacred/profane polarity, especially with respect to contemporary
materials. I think we have seen that althoughmodern spatialitylacks the sense
of absolutenessand communicationwith other worlds which characterizessome
spatial ordersof past societies, modern space is not a kind of chaos, lacking or-
N
Ibid., p. 578. Italics mine.
436 LARRY E. SHINER

ientationor intrinsicsignificance. The spatial experienceof modernman is not

profane but merely human. The interpretivealternativeI have proposed is to
reject dualismfrom the outset and regardboth the picture of natureconstructed
by the scientific tradition and the symbolismof natureemerging from the reli-
gious traditionas equallygroundedin the "life-world,"in the fundamentalstruc-
tures of the humanexperienceof temporalityand spatiality. From this base one
directionleads to the abstractioncharacteristicof homogenous,metric space and
the other directionto the intensificationof meaning characteristicof holy places.
So long as one understandshuman space or lived space to be the primarysource
of both these poles one can use the designations"profane"and "sacred"for them.
But then it would also be understoodthat both extremesrepresentin most con-
temporarysituationsthe exception ratherthan the rule. We are dealing with a
continuumspreadingout from the averagehuman structuralpossibilities of spa-
tial experiencetowardtwo kinds of limit.