I came across this sign recently while visiting a medical office building. On the pragmatic side, I wanted know what the meaning of this sign was. Where was the area of refuge? The arrow simply pointed to a non-descript hallway. Was there some hidden meaning? Was this hallway earthquake-proof? Fire-resistant? Spiritually protected? It seemed so mysterious.On the metaphoric side, I took the photo with my trusty little Treo smart phone solely in order to show other people that I actually saw this sign and felt that its metaphoric value far outweighed its practical and intended nature. We all need areas of refuge in our lives. Is it our living room? Our porch? Our workshop? Or perhaps a beach, or the mountains, the forest, a favorite city park. Some individuals find refuge in their own enlightened minds through meditation. Others find refuge in their bodies through exercise, yoga, dance, or painting. Still others find refuge in substances, both natural and synthetic, which disconnect them from their bodies for a while, or perhaps even make the body a playground of sensation and experience.
In her beautiful book Refuge, the author Terry Tempest Williams uses the Great Salt Lake---its risings and fallings, and the lives of the wild birds around it---as a metaphor for refuge, as well as a geographic touchstone for the actual peace she experiences on its shores as she struggles with a seeming epidemic of breast cancer in multiple generations of women in her family.
What is your refuge, dear Reader? Where does it lie? Is it within? Without? Have you not yet found it?Do you need a new one? Have you not tended your refuge for a while? Take a moment, if you like, and find that refuge---perhaps for the first time, or maybe for the thousandth---then give yourself the gift of visiting that sacred space soon.
Namaste.
9 comments:
Signage can be so interesting - I like browing through all of the Flickr pools dedicated to this.
Timely thought for this busy season.
Best - Tony
In my oncologist office the refuge room is a room away from the treatment areas that is decorated with plush furniture and beautiful pottery. Desiderada and the 23rd Psalm decorate the walls. It is a room for that the patients and/or their families can go to when they are overwhelmed to be alone or they can invite the social worker to come talk. When the news wasn't good, it was nice to have a quiet place to go cry. In my home, my refuge lately has been my kitchen. I have 2 cheesecakes and about 15 dozen cookies. Luckily I have a party to go to on Saturday that I can take them to.
Ah ...I can always count on you to see the beauty in the simple "signs" of life.
Yes my refuge, tomorrow with my future in-laws in Italy.
Refuge?
Right here on your blog - reading, reflecting, ruminating....
hey there, bub, why doncha put into practice jeeust weeat u suggeest fer yersef?
What a great photo capture! Who'd have believed it? Definitely makes you think.
Very common sign in medical buildings.
From the CDC:
An area of refuge is a space protected from the effects of fire, either by means of separation from other spaces in the same building or by virtue of location in an adjacent building, thereby permitting a delay in egress travel from any level.
Physically and emotionally my refuge is Mendocino, California - I may not get there but I can BE there anytime.
More prosaically, my refuge is my computer and all it gives me access to, which is basically the world.
An "Area of Refuge" sign leads disabled peoples to gathering points where they can be rescued by firefighters during a fire or other emergency. They should have call boxes in the stairwell for the individuals needing assistance to call for help. Had you taken the stairs instead of the elevator, you may have noticed this. However, I imagine that your sensitive hippie side told you to take it easy on the way downstairs. These life saving areas of refuge are not better left a metaphor. Everyone needs to know where they are in case you need to assist someone.
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