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Comment by _DeadFred_ | Hacker News Reader

One of the most spiritual moments of my life was entering Notre Dame, and I was not expecting it at all, wasn't really excited to go there, and am not really religious. Honestly I expected Stonehenge to be more impactful but Notre Dame is a way more worthy visit.

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I haven't been to Notre Dame, but there are certainly what I'd term "thin places" in the world, where the spiritual is {closer, more accessible, more present}. I would expect a long-lived active cathedral to be one such place. It's not just the beauty, it's something about the physical location being a focus of prayer over time. I don't have a good sense for how it works. Just that it does.

You would love the old city of Jerusalem.

So I hear. I would love to tour it, some day.

Definitely, do this. When you do, take the underground Western Wall tour. The stonework just beggars the imagination.

https://thekotel.org/en/tours/western-wall-tunnels/2/?srslti...

Varanasi in India, more specifically Manikarnika ghat in 2008 for me. I am a rational non-religious person but that place imprinted itself in my heart by exactly this... something else in the air and I mean everywhere I went in that place (apart from ashes of burnt dead which you breath in 24/7). Never felt anything similar anywhere else, not even in St. Peter's Basilica which is an engineering marvel on its own I can certainly appreciate its beauty.

Which goes against whole concept of institutionalized religions and tells a lot about how humans are wired internally, and nothing (at least positive) about existence of god(s) and some made up bronze age rules accompanying those stories.

BTW been to Notre dame before the fire and felt 0 nothing above usual cathedrals effect (compared to say Sagrada familia which wasn't that spiritual but wow effect definitely), but there were various parts to visit and I don't think I covered them all so maybe missed the spot that worked for you.

I was more awed by Stonehenge than Notre Dame. There's just something mystical about it and it's also much more ancient. Notre Dame was another cool cathedral. It's famous but Europe has many.

Either way sounds like an amazing rebuilding effort with many great passionate craftsman working on it. It goes to show that when we want to we can get stuff done. It's like a hackathon in a big company. Let's take from that and do more great things.

>It goes to show that when we want to we can get stuff done.

I have read the EULA. * Terms and conditions may apply. * Not available in all regions.

I sort of feel the same way about Stone Henge and I think it’s an exposure thing. It was maybe the tenth or so stop on my tour of ancient megaliths and after Gobekli Tepe, Easter Island, Avebury, the Baalbek stones, etc it just didn’t feel as special.

I have the same view. Notre Dame just feels like a big regular church. The Cathedral of Cologne, on the other hand, is just something mesmerizing to me. It's like it belongs to another world/dimension and yet somehow fits with the gloomy sky of Germany.

I loved Köln Cathedral. It's a must see in Germany. Equal to any castle.

150 years ago it was the tallest building in the world.

If you love this one, you should visit Notre Dame de Strasbourg :)

> I was more awed by Stonehenge than Notre Dame.

Recommended reading: Dawn Of Everything.

> Honestly I expected Stonehenge to be more impactful but Notre Dame is a way more worthy visit.

I think people underestimate how much Beauty can be path to experiencing the Transcendent.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty#Western_Middle_Ages

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