God, The Divine, Allah, The Tao, The Universe, The One Being, The Awareness In Which This All Arises, The Great Spirit, The One Who Cannot Be Named….. Whatever words we might use, even if we are atheist physicists, we have some sense of the Unity of which we are all a part. And we all have different theories or models or beliefs about our relationship to it. That’s what an awful lot of religion and philosophy have been about down through the ages.
Some of us build meditation halls, mosques, churches, medicine lodges, cathedrals, temples, chapels, synagogues, shrines, abbeys and other spaces in which to pray, meditate, and/or worship. Some traditions teach or imply that these locations are where God is Present in a special way. In the Catholic Church, for example, with the belief that the Eucharist bread is literally the body of Christ, there is a notice that God is in the chapel when the candle is on. Other traditions have other ways of expressing the specialness of those places, the special Presence of God.
It seems to me, however, that if God is Everywhere, that God is not present more in the temple than anywhere else.
On the other hand, those places get us in the mood, paying attention, or at least trying to. When we are there, we engage in activities from quiet meditation to singing, sometimes with incense, candles, and even dancing, shaking or twirling in some traditions. In other traditions we might have thoughtful discussions about the scriptures or teachings of our choice, more what some Indian traditions might call Jnana Yoga, the way of Understanding. If such practices in such places are successful, they make practitioners more aware that they are not separate from the Divine, from This, from the Present Moment. That is the function of those places and gatherings, whether we know it or not, beyond coming together as a collective. They set the occasion for us to notice This. Or at least, that is what they have done in many of the Great Traditions.
Given all that, I think it’s a shame that we don’t have more outdoor places of worship, meditation, and prayer. That, at least for some of us, is where we can most easily know that we are part of a Whole. Many indigenous people around the globe have had traditions of outdoor spiritual practice, as well as indoor. It feels right, and All-inclusive. Being outside manmade structures can feel more continuous with, rather than separated from Nature, the recognition that we are part of Something infinitely greater than our separate selves.