PHOTOS: HuffPost Editors' Most Sacred Images (Upload Your Own!)

We asked HuffPost editors and reporters to describe what was sacred to them -- by using photographs, not words. These amazing images reflect the range of definitions of the sacred: from iconic religious images, to people in action, to the natural world. Enjoy these and upload your own photographs of the sacred (images must be your own).

Click through the slideshow to view the photos:

+ Add a slide

Find a picture, click the participate button, add a title and upload your picture

RATE IT!   |  

VOTE

Heavenly

CURRENT TOP 5 PICK YOUR OWN TOP 5

USERS WHO VOTED

NEW! CREATE YOUR OWN SLIDESHOW

Comments

[ohgreatme]

04:26 PM on 02/05/2012

Nice --- but let's not forget the descrimination being perpetrated against our own countrymen --- as outlined in the article below. I could be wrong, but I have not seen the following article on HP that I found in the Houston Chronicle:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia legislators have passed a bill allowing private adoption agencies to deny placements that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs, including opposition to homosexuality.

The state House voted 71-28 to pass the legislation Friday. Earlier in the day, a Senate committee endorsed its version of the Republican-backed measure on an 8-7 party-line vote. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to sign the bill.

Supporters say the measure protects religious freedom. Opponents argue that the government, which contracts with dozens of private, state-licensed child placement agencies, should not sanction discrimination.

"The Virginia Board of Social Services in December adopted regulations allowing discrimination by private agencies based on factors including gender, age, religion disability, sexual orientation and family status. The bill would convert those regulations into state law"

My thoughts on this argicle? Absurd! You take someone's tax money and then give it to an organization that descriminates against that person. IT MAKES NO SENSE, NO SENSE AT ALL. I hope this is tied up in court battles and can't be enforced for a hundred years. Crazy, crazy, crazy. If you want this kind of law THEN DON'T TAX THESE FOLKS, idiot Republicans being led around by the nose by the Evangelicals.

[bmuesli]

07:43 PM on 02/04/2012

The photo of the four dogs curled up sleeping on the pavement made me sad, because they live within a culture that does not value animals as companions, but relegates them to to margins of human society.

[soma77]

03:37 PM on 02/04/2012

Thank you, when we are centered in the present moment everything becomes sacred. May we all feel and enjoy the bliss of silence. http://thinkunity.com

[suebeedue]

10:00 AM on 02/04/2012

I believe the word "sacred" is akin to the word "holy" and would have put up a picture of the Sacred or Holy Scriptures. In Biblical Hebrew, the word "holy" conveys the thought of separateness; in worship, "holy" applies to that which is separated from common use, or held sacred.

My relationship with God is sacred, my prayers to him are sacred, everything in connection with worship of him is sacred. This in turn affects me in my everyday life. My relationships with my children have been enhanced by the effects of what I hold sacred, my husband, my family, my brothers and sisters in the faith, and I will be forever grateful to God for this.

[nogods]

11:11 PM on 02/03/2012

Try looking at a tape worm for sacredness. Just because you see an aesthetic example of nature doesn't mean that it requires a label inferring mystical baloney.

[whirlpool]

12:36 AM on 02/04/2012

At least tapeworms have a function in the ecology of nature.

[VirginiaJeff]

09:39 PM on 02/03/2012

I love the rough and tumble that occurs in much of the Huffington Post. But I also think we could use a small snark-free zone for topics like this. For community members who want to take a break from the tussling and share their spiritual side with whomever is interested. Just as there are standards applied to comments in other sections (for example, bigoted posts or verbal abuse tend to get scrubbed elsewhere), I think we could use a section where conversation isn't hijacked by sarcasm trolls.

[Len Hummel]

03:55 AM on 02/04/2012

TOTALLY agree. jaded cynicism masquerading as 'intelligence' seems to be the "norm" today.

[suebeedue]

01:45 PM on 02/04/2012

It would be nice, but the sarcastic trolling will not stop anytime soon. The writer (Richard Dawkins) and others, have called for militant atheism. Their stand, in part, is that, especially in America, one cannot get elected unless one is religious. This in turn affects all of legislature so that the religious affect all of social policy. So they are encouraged to speak out in behalf of the fact that they do not believe their is a God or gods and that science and politics is mankind's way to progression and hope, not an antiquated belief in God. It can be a take no prisoners tactic and because of much of the Republican right wings fanaticism, it is growing into quite a stronghold. Huff Po is generally thought of as a liberal cite, so applying standards to appease the "spiritually minded" will probably go nowhere. No- the religious section of huff po is now dominated by the irreligious. The irreligious can include atheism, secular humanist, atheist, agnostic, those hostile to religion as well as skeptics and so - called "free thinkers". If you already knew this, sorry for boring you.

[VirginiaJeff]

06:27 PM on 02/04/2012

You expressed it well. I think most of the atheists and agnostics here are respectful of religious folks. I've good relations with many of them. But a noisy group of haters have decided to act like the mirror image of the rightwing religious fanatics. :(

[lobstur]

09:12 PM on 02/03/2012

sucks that most of those photos were manipulated after they were shot. it's become standard now, no photograph is complete until all its natural errors are reduced or blended away.

'beautiful' is not always sacred to me, in fact, these photos feel the opposite of a sacred experience. they feel like a wall between me and the natural world.

[moderator-paigeharmes]

03:04 AM on 02/08/2012

well, I know my photo wasn't manipulated in any way except for the size. Looks just like it does on my phone, only a bit easier to see.

Is there a reason you think the rest of them were manipulated other than size formatting? 'cause I'm not seeing any that were. o.O

[lobstur]

04:26 PM on 02/08/2012

you're right, there are many that have not been tampered with, and those are the fairly obvious ones! some look grainy, or simple shot by an untrained hand.

mostly the vistas and the wideshot scenes. particularly the cloudy one with rays of sunlight shining through. I see them.

[sodisenchanted]

05:29 PM on 02/03/2012

I've been stung by jellyfish like those so many times I'm having a hard time feeling the sacredness in those.

Still trying...

Nope. Not yet.

[Laxsmi de Potrero]

09:54 PM on 02/02/2012

wow, i feel like i just discovered the foto album of a valley girl tween.

[cedy]

08:13 PM on 02/03/2012

Yep, that's about it!

[MyNameIsKarsten]

11:33 AM on 02/02/2012

I uploaded a picture I took while traveling through Siberia in 2008:

http://i.imgur.com/lnk2U.jpg

According to the Shamanistic beliefs of the Buryat locals, the ribbons on the trees symbolise our wishes and dreams, delivered to the gods by the wind blowing through them.

I wonder why my picture was rejected.

[Mac1000]

03:12 PM on 02/02/2012

It shouldn't have been rejected. It's beautiful.

[MyNameIsKarsten]

04:14 PM on 02/02/2012

Thanks mate!

[VirginiaJeff]

09:40 PM on 02/03/2012

Beautiful :)

[TheWM]

11:21 AM on 02/02/2012

Why are boiling potatoes sacred. (Oh, those are jellyfish.) (I still don't understand.)

[whirlpool]

11:56 AM on 02/02/2012

They symbolize the fecundity and creativity of nature and hence are worthy of veneration.

[nogods]

11:14 PM on 02/03/2012

They symbolize a schmuck who has nothing creative to say.

[odra]

09:02 AM on 02/02/2012

Number 25 looks like a Johnson

[bbriani3842]

08:07 AM on 02/02/2012

I tried to upload this one but it keeps getting rejected ... don't they see god's work when it's right in front of them?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/WBC_protest.jpg

[bmcombs]

09:37 AM on 02/04/2012

This is why I'm a fan. I wanted to see this photos as well. Photos of the sacred. If we are to respect and appreciate the dedication people have to their faith - these people should certainly be recognized.

[ZenGardner]

07:24 AM on 02/02/2012

My bathroom is sacred too.

[Chinmay]

04:52 AM on 02/02/2012

very bad quality, had to stop after 5 pictures. no point in great pictures without great quality.

[IrieMoon]

02:59 PM on 02/02/2012

Not everyone can be a professional.

[cedy]

08:28 PM on 02/03/2012

Of course not, and very few people are. I am a professional, but even at that I struggle with making a great photo. With photography its much like many other sciences, there is so much to learn, that all photographers must pick a specialization and stick to it. In all honesty, the specialization picks them and not the other way around.

Sure I can rock the house in my type of work, but the stuff here judged by any professional is not up to snuff. Photography is incredibly hard, sometimes it takes me weeks if not months to make it all happen. Not to toot my horn, but in truth, its not grabbing a camera and taking a shot.

The shot to a pro photographer is determined weeks before the camera is ever picked up, this includes where its seen, the paper its presented on, the subject, the mood, what the viewer may think and lots of other things.

The picture is taken in the photographers head, before any camera is ever picked up. The camera's only purpose is to let others see what the photographer was thinking. If the photographer was successful, he is able to instill the same thoughts to others, what he was thinking.