A Sense of Place as a Rite of Passage

A Sense of Place as a Rite of Passage

A sense of place is a manifold thing. At one end of the scale it is simply a place and a time. As you traverse the scale to the other end it comes alive. At the other end is a knowing of the lay of the land, the secret and vital places as well as the vista view. There is a knowing of the weather, the winds and fogs as well as the precipitation amounts and frequency. There is a knowing of the flora and fauna, the reluctant visitor as well as the determined homebody. But more than that there is a feeling, a connectedness that is intimately individual and inexpressible, emotional not logical. It is a landscape of memories painted in the colors of the future. A pattern of the past evolving into a pattern of the future. A living gestalt organism in its own right. A sense of place is a wildness within.

A rite of passage is a focal point to a life change. A point in time and space with a purpose, a point of no return, a new birth; an emotional, not logical, experience; intimate, individual and inexpressible. There is no going back. An experience that changes what one thinks, feels, does, is. A pattern of the past evolving into a pattern of the future. A wildness uncaged. A sense of place.