People in our time have largely lost touch with their capacity to REFLECT on the human experience of Nature.

People in our time have largely lost touch with their capacity to REFLECT on the human experience of Nature.  Because past eras focused so heavily on ideas to the detriment of  an awareness of the heart- and body-oriented dimensions of life, succeeding generations have rightly emphasized the importance of these previously neglected dimensions. However, the pendulum has now swung way too far.  Present-day lovers of Nature - like many others in our society - talk incessantly about "getting out of your head" and "moving beyond words."  What they fail to see is that the aha! experience of insight is never primarily mental; in fact, it always originates IN THE HEART.  Moreover, "words" have to be meaningfully employed before we can even think about moving BEYOND them. For such words, as the psalmist rightfully points out, are "sweeter than honey in the honeycomb."  They therefore always involve a participation in the mysterious dimensions of both body and heart.

Photos: (Top) Reddish hogbacks and golden willows in a snowstorm, near Loveland, CO, November 10, 2014; (Middle) Willows and Bellvue Dome, near Bellvue, CO, November 10, 2014; (Bottom) Bellvue Dome reflected in the Poudre River, Larimer County, CO, November 7, 2014