Many of us in Hawaii grappled with feelings of powerlessness, sadness and despair as we watched Notre-Dame Cathedral consumed by flames. On Hawaii Time, we often experience the world’s major events with temporal lag, for the simple reason that many news stories wrap before our morning alarms ring. Monday was different in that the events in Paris coincided with our morning commutes, our first meetings, our early classes. What we saw was previously unimaginable: one of the world’s greatest treasures threatened with ruin.

All day, I was haunted by a single thought: What would it mean for human beings to go on without Notre-Dame? For losing Notre- Dame means losing part of our humanity, and, in a very real sense, losing our way.

Fortunately, it looks as though we have been spared the worst, thanks to firefighters who responded expertly. Still, it is worth pausing to reflect upon the significance of Notre-Dame. Is Notre-Dame little more than a remarkable backdrop for selfies, given that few people still place their faith in the medieval Catholic worldview from which it springs? What role, if any, should “sacred places” play in establishing the identities of persons and nations that avow secular creeds?

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame constitutes both the geographical and spiritual heart of France. It is located on the Île de la Cité, the “City Island” that was a fortification during the Roman Empire, and the most ancient part of Paris. Ground was broken in 1163, and Notre-Dame was completed nearly 200 years later. To this day, the largely secular French nation locates itself in relation to Notre-Dame. The square that opens before its famous medieval bell towers — the Place du Parvis de Notre-Dame — is known as “kilometer zero,” the starting point from which all distances in France are measured.

While studying in France, I was often surprised to learn that many ordinary Parisians celebrate life’s milestones in the same cathedral where St. Thomas Aquinas would have prayed, where the kings and queens of France were wed, and where Napoleon crowned himself emperor. It is not hyperbole, then, when President Macron describes Notre-Dame as the “epicenter of our lives” and states, “Notre-Dame is our history, our literature, our imagery.”

Today of course, Notre-Dame also belongs to the world. It symbolizes the possibility of endurance in an increasingly fleeting and transitory world. This is not to say that Notre-Dame does not suffer damage or undergo change. In 1548, the Huguenots destroyed “idolatrous” sculptures; under Louis XIV, many gothic elements were removed to make way for the newly fashionable classical style; and during the close of Word War II, Notre-Dame narrowly escaped Hitler’s order to level all buildings of religious and historical significance.

No, Notre-Dame is not immune to change. Distinctive, however, is its ability to unite humanity across large swaths of time and space. From a tiny island in the Seine to far-flung archipelagos in the Pacific, humanity is born from the commitment to remember the past and the decision to prepare for the future. As the site of ongoing work and perpetual reinvestment, Notre-Dame connects those who come after with those who came before, and thus embodies the distinctly human capacities for memory and planning.

What is remarkable about this current moment is that a new generation of caretakers have been called upon to invent their own reasons for taking up a cause that was decided upon long ago. It’s doubtful that these justifications will be drawn from the domain of religious belief; rather, they likely will come from faith in the redemptive powers of beauty, art, history and culture.

Our most fervent wishes for renewal are with them, from one island to another.

Joseph Tanke, Ph.D., chairs the Philosophy Department and directs the International Cultural Studies program at the University of Hawaii-Manoa; as a graduate student, he resided in Paris.