In Northern Europe, where strict Protestant theology had purged the churches of religious art, and, furthermore, classical subjects declined in popularity, as pagan, realism thrived.

Meaning that work with secular, or nonreligious, subject matter became extremely popular: still life painting was popular, as were representations of everyday people living out their daily lives, and landscapes.

No longer working for the church, artist painted everyday things that they thought would appeal to the bourgeois taste of the new consumer. However, ironically, the figure above represents Joseph’s dream that Herod is searching for the infant Jesus to kill him, and his army stands strong.

The city of Sacramento, California USA has been inhabited for over 8,500 years, and is supposed to represent the pastoral World, a middle ground between civilization and wilderness where people can live free of both the corruption and decadence of city and court life and the uncontrollable forces of nature.

This is a different World in an eternally poetic life. The trees and flowers employ an atmospheric perspective to soften all the sense of tension and opposition.

The modest houses and grand homes are bring us to a World of harmony and peace. This city is supposed to be the best that civilization has to offer and has been melded with the best of a wholly benign and gentle nature, much like the people.

Architects and landscapers felt that sense God made the Earth, and they wanted people to sense the majesty of His soul in His handiwork, much as one could sense emotion in the ornate details of the Victorian homes, sky scrapers, and castles.

The State Capitol castle is supposed to be God’s vision and is symbolically suggested as you look toward the twin towers and the Golden Bridge.

Once one looks at the suggested panoramic sweep of the extended view, this is representative of a castle, made for Nephilim and a draw bridge to the castle, with guard towers, giving the infinite dimensions of the Heavens.

The view is not only about the land, but about the sky, and the light that emanates from it, alternately casting the Earth in light and shadow, knowledge and innocence.

Rising to meet the light, importantly, is the Capitol Castle, one of the largest buildings in the landscape. The beam of lights suggest the spiritual presence of God, and the beams of light from the Sun/Son of Christ.

The City of Sacramento was once so idealized that it was almost Edenic. The example of architecture and landscape that the founders left us offers an important lesson in the direction they wanted the city to go from the late seventeenth century down to our own day.

The spiritual is not found exclusively in the church, it can also be found in nature, in light, and your own personal homes.