Welcome! I am a contemplative thinker and photographer from Colorado. In this blog, you'll discover photographs that I've taken on my hiking and backpacking trips, mostly in the American West. I've paired these with my favorite inspirational and philosophical quotes - literary passages that emphasize the innate spirituality of the natural world. I hope you enjoy them!

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In the Spirit of Wildness,

Stephen Hatch
Fort Collins, Colorado

P.S. There's a label index at the bottom of the blog.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Solitude Melts Us into the Unitive Realm BETWEEN All Things


Solitude is not really "me" time. Instead, it enables us to experience COMMUNION with the deepest level of those whom we love, stripped of the superficial qualities that cause so much dissension in our daily lives. Paradoxically, solitude unites us with the solitude of everything else in the cosmos, and with the One Great Solitude in which we all share. But this Oneness is not a mere singularity. Rather, this Oneness - this Solitude - is in reality the realm "between" I and Thou, and thus contains a dynamism that is truly revolutionary. As Jewish theologian Martin Buber says, "Spirit is not in the I, but between I and Thou." In solitude, we all melt and dissolve in this unitary BETWEEN, which we might also call RELATION.  And that unitive "between," I am convinced, is the true power and reality of solitude.

Photo: Solitary Pinyon Pine cone with the Needles in the background; Canyonlands National Park, UT; December 1, 2013
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