Why Sacred-Profane?

Actually if you look in dictionaries or Wiki, the meaning of these two words are often defined as just being the antithesis of each other – Sacred – a word that describes things of a Spiritual nature or that are particularly Venerated, respected or worshiped by a certain culture, and Profane – the opposite, the mundane, the un-respectable.

The subtext in the Christian West, at least, is that Profane things are rude, blasphemous, morally unsound, i.e. of an animalistic, bestial nature, to be abjured.

By contrast, my view is that in fact spirituality is often found in the most rude of places (and by this I mean rude in both senses, simple and sexual).

I believe that that the moral attitude that continues to prevail in the West, despite all the seeming Liberation movements of the the last 50 years – that the physical needs and processes of millions of people (esp. when they differ from the majority, in style or preference) are intrinsically “bad” or a reason for guilt, or mistrust, is incorrect, non-sensical and damaging to the progress of mankind toward wisdom, toward enlightenment.

There are good people and there are bad people (Why, is a whole ‘nother matter’!)

Also, some are spiritual people and some atheists. This seems to me to be self-evident, the world over, regardless of nationality or national religion, and it has nothing to do with a person’s present circumstances, age, education or occupation…

It’s true I have always found situations where the Sacred and Profane go hand in hand, the most affecting, the most moving, maybe because they are are so “unexpected”, maybe because the contradiction somehow makes the Spiritual aspect more powerful…

This website will feature examples of this kind of contradiction wherever I find them, from East London canal-sides, to South American favelas, to Asian go-go bars or gas stations or Temple grounds.

I am far from understanding why I feel the way I do about these things, but as an artist, as a human being, I feel I need to make them available to you.

Peter Jackson, director of the fabulous Lord of the Rings movies, was asked the other day if his new film of The Lovely Bones was similar to the book, and he replied to the effect that movies have to simplify, but he had cried when he read the book, and so obviously he had to keep those parts of the story where he cried, most crucially, and to build the rest around that! A man after my own heart

I hope you will find the ideas worthy of consideration, and the objects, or pictures in some way useful, or helpful, in your own personal path towards Awareness.