{"id":576,"date":"2006-08-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/chatteringmind\/2006\/08\/do-we-need-altars-for-spiritua.html"},"modified":"2006-08-18T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-08-18T12:00:00","slug":"do-we-need-altars-for-spiritua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/chatteringmind\/2006\/08\/do-we-need-altars-for-spiritua.html","title":{"rendered":"Do We Need Altars for Spiritual Practice?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lots of fabulous mail on my recent post about prayer beads and home altars. Basically, most readers contentedly catch sacred moments when they can.<\/p>\n

Krista White meditates and prays in the “woods, washing dishes, waiting in line at the school to pick up my daughter,” she says, adding: “This doesn’t feel wrong to me as I don’t want to get too caught up in ritual and form, thus losing the essence of what feels most important–my connection to the divine.”<\/p>\n

Stacey-Robin H. Johnson found the maintenance of a large home altar daunting: “I meditate and pray on the train in the morning.” <\/p>\n

Priscilla Hudson believes it is wonderful to “allow the mundane to be sacred.” <\/p>\n

Wilhelmenia Bell writes: “Prayer is a good way to relax in a higher divine power than your own being, knowing that there is always a place you can go and allow God to enter in.” <\/p>\n

“God wants us to come to him just as we are, without any pretenses, conditions, idols, etc. I do prayerfully meditate upon His Word, but I do so freely with any breath that I take, whether it’s in the grocery store, walking my dogs, etc…” writes Kathryn.<\/p>\n

Here are some new links for you to ponder: an article<\/a> by Lama Surya Das on how home altars, while not mandatory, can be helpful, and here’s a Washington Post story <\/a> about the variety of home sanctuaries out there. Then here<\/a>‘s what appears to be a wonderful book about women and their sacred spaces, which defines altars so broadly that they can be collections of treasured photos and objects on a dresser. Now that, I do have. I’ll take some pictures and post them for you. Send me images of your sacred objects and spaces, or just describe them!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lots of fabulous mail on my recent post about prayer beads and home altars. Basically, most readers contentedly catch sacred moments when they can. Krista White meditates and prays in the “woods, washing dishes, waiting in line at the school to pick up my daughter,” she says, adding: “This doesn’t feel wrong to me as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":374,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDo We Need Altars for Spiritual Practice? - Chattering Mind<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/chatteringmind\/2006\/08\/do-we-need-altars-for-spiritua.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do We Need Altars for Spiritual Practice? - Chattering Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lots of fabulous mail on my recent post about prayer beads and home altars. 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Basically, most readers contentedly catch sacred moments when they can. 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