Place as Topos and Chora

Place as Topos and Chora

(Belden Lane/Landscapes of the Sacred)

September 16

Aristotle understood place in terms of topos. In this objective, scientific framework of understanding, place does not participate with the people there. Place as topos is a fixed point on a map, distinguishable by natural appearance. Plato saw place in a more transcendent light. He saw place as chora. As Belden Lane insightfully says, “place as chora carries its own energy and power, summoning its participants to a common dance.”(p.39) Place as chora is marked by reciprocity. The place itself participates with us just as we do with it. Such places transform us just as much as we transform them and experience us just as much as we experience them. Place as chora gives off a certain presence and spirit. We often speak of certain places that mean something to us in terms of it's spirit. When visiting New York City as a kid I remember my dad saying, "these streets are electric." Places have a life and energy of their own, independent from the life we project onto them. It could be that place is always chora, always reaching out to us, calling us to come and dance and only in those rare moments of life - a heightening of mental consciousness and bodily mindfulness - when the our soul connects to it’s surroundings is sacrality perceived in a place.