Thin Places...In The Future?

Places which capture the heart and spirit of visitors and occupants provide huge benefits and advantages for accomplishing facility goals. In Celtic history such highly engaging places were often called "Thin Places" meaning that the veil separating the mundane from the heart and spiritual realm at these places -- was seemingly very thin.

Today, thousands of such places throughout the world attract and astound people year after year. A small low budget, yet absolutely breathtaking chapel in the USA, was built in 1980 and has continued each year since to earn more funds from its modest tourists' fees than its original cost. Wouldn't you like to know how these places can do that? Wouldn't you like to consider Five Clues to their Thin Place power... for your places? That's what this book is about.

Now after thousands of years of Thin Places consistently linking with visitors' hearts and spirit, and confirmations of resulting place benefits through published attendance records and visitor responses, why then do we NOT program, design and build ALL of our people occupied facilities based on such human attraction responses? The excuse cannot be cost, for consider again the economic return on the small low budget chapel. Truthfully there is no excuse.

When place leaders, building committees, owners, trusees, CEOs, ministers and members accept mundane under-performing place decisions (often at higher costs), potential heart and spirit connections by customers, prospects and visitors they seek to serve, instead of being drawn to their places may instead be deflected and lost. Look around. Many places continue to fail for that very reason, while others like the small chapel and thousands of similar examples continue to excel providing huge goal benefits for their occupants, place owners, leaders and sponsors.

When then, will schools, colleges, universities, seminaries and professional associations seriously begin to teach and support this higher level of place engagement -- as echoed by C.G. Jung and demonstrated over the years by discerning place professionals? There are many successful examples of heart and spirit creations already bristling in art, music, literature, poetry and other fields. Think about that.

Now, it would appear during these critical times that those in the place industry and those being served by the place industry (churches, businesses, institutions and others) would seize this vital opportunity and seriously begin reversing downward trends by following that lead. This blog is an invitation to connect around that dream, inspire ways and people to help -- and begin. I invite you to join in.