Sacred to me or to everyone else?

Thus far I have felt rather overwhelmed by this class. Not by the work load or the abilities required to master the course, but the whole idea of challenging myself in an artistic sense. I have not taken an art class since 6th grade which was 11 years ago and even then I only dabbled in the artistic field. I like to write and I love music but the whole visual arts have always been intimidating to me. I am excited to be working with clay and discovering art, but for me it is just that, discovering art, not discovering art in a new way. Because my background in visual arts is virtually nonexistent I can not challenge my traditional art views as much as develop new art views.
That being said have been trying to challenge my traditional views of art and general ways of thinking. In our discussion on the sacred I was able to get into a deeper meaning for me. I kept thinking about what was sacred to me versus someone else or the greater society. The Idea that art can be anything to anyone, even something as socially unacceptable as excrement gives rise to a new style of thinking. I kept thinking of what I felt to be the most traditional sacred symbol, god. In our society a cross, the name Jesus, Christmas and the Bible are all sacred. Travel to many other corners of the world and Allah is the word with most sacred meaning. Is someone right or wrong? In my eyes no, it is simply the meaning that is most socially acceptable. I am not challenging religion or their beliefs, only saying that in different societies different things will be held as sacred. In this I began a list of things that are sacred to me instead of things which are sacred because society told me they are sacred. I find family, love, and companionship to be sacred. There are many variations of these concepts but if I am to develop an art piece that embodies the sacred I believe that it must hold these base ideas.
Now my challenge is to find a way to challenge myself to go into the abstract and untraditional art to find my interpretation of the sacred. I don't know what this looks like yet, but my work is most certainly going to be in finding a way to express these feelings in a way that challenges me and my traditional views of art(however limited my views may be.)

-Sean Phillips