Landscapes of Transcendence: The Aniconic Sacrality of Mountain Geographies

Sanjeeva Guneratne, Upendra RMK Rajapaksha and Faiz MMT Marikar
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Sanjeeva Guneratne: Department of Architecture, Southern Campus-General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), Sewanagala, Sri Lanka
Upendra RMK Rajapaksha: Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda, Sri Lanka
Faiz MMT Marikar: Staff Development Centre, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Kandawala, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka

Social Sciences and Education Research Review, 2024, vol. 11, issue 2, 78-88

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, geo-phenomenology 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.

Keywords: sacredscape; mountain; transcendence; aniconic; archetypal; nature; phenomenology; apophatic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:edt:jsserr:v:11:y:2024:i:2:p:78-88

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15258276

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