A lot of us were raised with the tradition that the holy land is somewhere else. Or in our searching have created our own version of this idea. Jerusalem, Mecca. India, Tibet. Someplace far away.

But far has gotten nearer, two days if you make all your connections. And as the world gets smaller and rounder connections are easier to make. What goes around comes around, as they used to say.

This is the holy land—the intersection where you wait for the light to change, the restaurant where you meet your friend, the place where you turn off the TV or close the book and head for bed. You live on the holy mountain, at the foot of the world tree, at the center of the universe.