Landscapes of transcendence: The aniconic sacrality of mountain geographies

Geography and spiritual growth converge in the construction of sacrality and the experience of transcendence within aniconic mountain sacredscapes worldwide. Parallel concepts such as apophasis and archetypicality are explored to emphasize their points of convergence. A literature review examines commonalities between Buddhist Insight Meditation, geophenomenology, and major Western discourses on wilderness as a restorative landscape. Common ontological and epistemological ground is sought against the backdrop of a rapprochement between these traditions in the modern era. The paper integrates South and Southeast Asian notions of sacrality with Western psychobiological perspectives, revealing challenges and possibilities for the resacralisation of mountain sacredscapes.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study presents a philosophical and theoretical overview of the process by which “geography and spiritual growth converge” in the construction of sacrality and experience of transcendence in the aniconic mountain sacredscapes of the world. Parallel concepts such as apophasis and archetypicality are explored in order to emphasise their points of convergence, It is supported by a literature review that explores the commonalities between Buddhist Insight Meditation, geophenomenology and major Western discourses on transcendence and the wilderness as a restorative landscape. In this fashion, common ontological and epistemological ground is sought against the backdrop of what is evidently a rapprochement between these traditions in the modern era. This paper, therefore, is an attempt at integrating South and Southeast Asian notions of sacrality with Western psychobiological perspectives. The outcome shows the challenges and possibilities for the resacralisation of mountain sacredscapes the world over.