The word temple derives from the Latin word – templum, meaning a sacred precinct or the dwelling place of a god or gods: the house of the deity. In ancient times, the temple was not so much one building as in a church but more of a cluster of buildings with varying degrees of access for different ranks of people or strata of society. These precincts would typically have one main building and many smaller out-buildings. The sacred ruins of Machu Picchu or the Pantheon in Greece typify such a complex temple structure over a vast geographic area.

In modern terms the word temple signifies a place of worship for all faiths as opposed to the words church, synagogue or mosque where each pertains to a specific religion. I am using the word temple in both these senses. On the one hand, it is agnostic in the true sense of the word - not that one is an atheist who does not believe in a Supreme Being or God but rather that it is impossible to know the nature of the ultimate reality from a limited, rational and totally logical viewpoint. So, one does not try to define God but accepts it as an unknowable and ultimate state of being.

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