Landscapes of the Sacred-Tabitha Ward

In chapter 8 of Landscapes of the Sacred, Lane shows a diagram of space vs. place. I thought the section on place with comfort and constriction made a lot of sense for me personally. I am from a small town in western Virginia where everyone knows everything about everyone else. This is a great feeling at times because there is always someone there to care for you or to offer a helping hand. There have been many things I have been through in my life that everyone found out about and was there right away calling and offering their support. Though this is the case, living in a small town is definitely constricting. There have been many things in my life that I have not wanted everyone to know about, but people in small towns talk a lot and are all about gossip. It is very obnoxious when people around you in your town need to be in your business because they think that they are entitled to do that. I thought this whole chapter was interesting because there is always a negative and a positive way to view a situation-via negativa and via positiva. This, I feel, shows the balance and equilibrium humans strive for.