Chapter 10 - Building Cathedrals of Awe: A New Architecture for Living
From the book, Living as a Cathedral of Awe
Living as a Cathedral of Awe Book
I used to think strength meant building walls.
Walls to keep fear out.
Walls to keep control in.
Walls to survive the storms of life.
And for a long time, walls were necessary.
They gave me shelter when there was no safe place to stand.
But walls, by their nature, isolate.
They keep others out —
and sometimes, they keep our own soul locked inside.
Now, I see a different kind of architecture is possible.
Not walls.
Cathedrals.
Structures not of defense, but of expansion.
Not of fear, but of awe.
A cathedral is built to hold bigness.
It is built to welcome the vastness of life —
the soaring heights, the sacred light, the deep echoes of wonder.
A cathedral invites the infinite inside without shrinking it,
without trying to control it,
without trying to explain it away.
It says:
"Come in.
You are safe here.
You are seen here.
You are part of something larger — and it is good."
This is the architecture I am building now.
For myself.
For my work.
For the people whose lives I touch.
Not fortresses to withstand life.
But cathedrals to welcome it.
Every micro-moment of flourishing is a stone in that cathedral.
Every breath of awe, every flash of gratitude, every act of trust.
When I choose to meet fear with wonder,
I lay another stone.When I choose presence over panic,
I raise another arch.When I choose dignity over domination,
I carve another window to let the light in.
And this cathedral is not static.
It is alive.
It is made of memory and hope and choice and breath.
It is flexible enough to sway with storms.
It is strong enough to shelter awe.
It is wide enough to welcome others.
It does not demand perfection.
It only asks presence.
This is what the THX frameworks truly are, at their deepest level:
The blueprints for building cathedrals of awe inside the human experience.
Structures that honor clarity, dignity, security, meaning, belonging, achievement, health.
Pathways that lead not to domination over life, but to participation in its wonder.
They are not about control.
They are about alignment —
with what life has always offered,
and what fear once told us to fear.
Every time I create a moment of flourishing,
every time I expand a micro-moment of presence,
every time I offer clarity where confusion once ruled,
I am helping build not just better systems,
but better sanctuaries.
Places where people can stand, breathe, belong,
and remember:
"I am not broken.
I am part of something sacred.
I am here.
I am alive."
I am not building monuments to myself.
I am building cathedrals to awe.
Cathedrals stitched from micro-moments.
Lit by the fires of wonder.
Open to all who long for a life larger than fear ever allowed them to imagine.
This is the architecture I live by now.
This is the architecture I offer to the world.
And it begins —
always —
with one small stone of awe,
laid down with an open heart.
Next: Chapter 11 - Choosing Flourishing: A Daily Act of Courage
Living the brave, ongoing choice to embody flourishing instead of merely surviving.
