Nov 5 Insight: What is a Thin Place (And, no, it's not a Fat Farm)

From the name “Thin Place” one might assume it’s a place you go to lose weight. It’s not. A Thin Place is actually any one of dozens of locations scattered around the planet where the distance between Heaven and Earth (or between God and people) feels especially narrow. A Thin Place is where it may be easier for us to make connections to the Divine.

Eric Weiner, writing about Thin Places, speaks of being “…drawn to places that beguile and inspire, sedate and stir, places where for a few blissful moments I loosen my death grip on life, and can breathe again.”

You might think that the thinnest of Thin Places are famous spots like Bethlehem, or Mecca, or Jerusalem. But more often than not, Thin Places are found in out-of-the-way locations in the desert or on mountain tops or splashing in the troubled waters of seacoasts. They are often what Belden Lane calls “fierce landscapes.”

Even though Thin Places are typically beautiful, they aren’t exactly vacation resorts. They may hold dangers and difficulties and discomforts. Due to their often remote locales, getting to and from Thin Places may present another set of challenges—sometimes painful, sometimes frightening; frequently creating sustained anxiety in the pilgrims who visit them.

I am just back from a trip to one of those places: Iona. If you look up the term Thin Place in a dictionary, there’s probably a picture of Iona.

It is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is maybe three miles long and two miles wide. The winds there blow at near gale force much of the time. The wind-driven rains seem to come and go every few hours.

My getting to Iona required hours of travel that included rides on an airplane, two buses, a train and two ferry boats. When I got to the Island I had to drag a 40 lb. suitcase, a 20 lb. book bag and a hand parcel a mile and half up a hill and through a muddy field (in darkness) to get to the hostel where I was to stay. Yet, the island was heartbreakingly beautiful.

My first two days on Iona were populated by 40-mile-an-hour winds and torrential rains. I visited the historic Abbey church and spent time wandering the volcanic beach at the north end of the Island. Unfounded fears that I might not be able to leave the island and return home never left my mind; nor did a sense of the closeness of God.

The difficulties I faced on Iona left me spiritually raw and thus open to the grace of God. That rawness may be the key to the Thin Place experience.

In fact, I believe that in Thin Places God also feels raw. At Iona, or on a mountain top or in the midst of a desert, both humans and God can weep and wail and let go of the accumulated sufferings of a lifetime. In fierce landscapes we can experience the solace of knowing that God is perhaps closer to us than at just about any other spot on earth.

For more information about Thin Places visit http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/travel/thin-places-where-we-are-jolted-out-of-old-ways-of-seeing-the-world.html?_r=0