MANILA, Philippines - Spirit, when it comes to places, is immediately associated with the supernatural. But ?spirit of place? is firmly in the realm of the everyday world. It is an elusive, intangible, nonphysical quality difficult to define but easy to perceive.

It is a personal reaction, one that recognizes an unmistakable identity that sets one place apart from others. Spirit of place gives a special feel and even mystique to a place, intangible qualities designating the place as unique.

Spirit of place elevates heritage sites from the ordinary, imbibes them with magnetism and uniqueness, provides an impact, and makes those sites more memorable than others.

The temples of Angkor, aside from being a collection of superlative monuments, have strong spirit of place that is immediately felt. Equally strong spirit pervades the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordillera.

But other places have hardly any.

Why no spirit in some places? It is difficult to explain. The best way to find out is to go and get a feel of the place and to let it tell you whether it has spirit of place or not since personal perception has much to do with it.

There is no need for much personal perception to get the spirit at Angkor. The splendid temples knock you off your feet at first sight, inspiring a sense of awe and reverence, a feel heightened by the massive temples still partially covered with the superb stone carving that survived the recent Cambodian war.

Much of the spirit at Angkor results from the nature-man connection that has for centuries struggled to maintain a balance between manmade temples and the devastating power of the Cambodian jungle.

Although the superb stone carving and statuary is now vanished, that intangible feeling, the spirit of Angkor, remains and its presence is strong. It is the spirit that draws millions of tourists to the monument. It is the same spirit that anchors a booming tourism industry that now earns a major part of the country?s national income.

The feel of the Rice Terraces is so strong that it literally pulls visitors into the stunning site, making them want to discover more of the place and to learn about the people whose ancestors painstakingly built such a monumental landscape.

Spirit connects the place to its history, culture, and, in the Rice Terraces to the daily life of the resident community.

Spirit and place

In the Rice Terraces, intangible ?spirit? and tangible ?place? are so closely intertwined that one cannot exist without the other, the landscape taking its form not only from nature but also from the manner its inhabitants shaped their natural environment to grow rice.

Therefore, is the Cordillera landscape a result of man responding to nature or nature responding to man?

The combined spirit of people and place, the interconnection between the community?s traditional agricultural and engineering skills, and their cultural beliefs that all tie to the cycle of highland rice-planting strive to continue despite 21st-century pressures that threaten the future of the site?

With those realities comes the question: Is spirit of place enough?

It seems to be enough in Angkor, where it not only plays a major part in defining the national identity (Angkor appears on the national flag), the place is also the major income-generating force for the country.

Angkor proves how spirit of place can be used as a resource for sustainable development rather than for exploitation.

Spirit of place, strong as it is in the Cordillera, is only being discovered as a resource for development by local governments and NGOs working with local communities to reinforce vanishing traditional cultural practices as a means for moving forward into the 21st century.

Spirit and soul

Sprit is intrinsic to a place, intangibly present in the history and traditions of a place as well as being physically embedded in its stones.

When the choir sings during services in the soaring stone nave of the Gothic Canterbury Cathedral, spirit connects place with soul. Imagination may contribute to the feeling of spirit of place, but imagination by itself is insufficient to capture the intangible message of the stones of the Pyramids, ancient Rome, and Borobudur. Spirit, not imagination, communicates the message.

Whether the spirit Paris evokes differs to the politician, the artist or the engineer does not matter. What matters is that Paris evokes spirit, and because it does, Paris is acknowledged as one of the special places of the world.

We can identify places, categorize and quantify them, document their physical appearance and measurements, specify legal measures or maintenance procedures for them.

The difficulty with identifying spirit of place is that our rational, quantifiable world has not developed a system to determine its presence. It is an intangible, subjective quality with an inexplicable, strong draw to a place.

What would Paris be without its spirit of place? Paris isn?t Paris without the inexplicable but so obvious spirit of place that gives the City of Light her special magic.

Maybe what we should do is stop thinking too much and begin feeling more and to give spirit of place a chance.

E-mail feedback is welcome at pride.place@gmail.com