I have been to the end of the earth, and I have found none that are not my friends.

"I have been to the end of the earth, I have been to the end of the waters, I have been to the end of the sky, I have been to the end of the mountains; I have found none that are not my friends."

Dine' (Navajo) Proverb

Photo: Multi-colored cliffs near Ghost Ranch, NM, May 22, 2015

With beauty all around me, may I walk . . .

"With beauty before me, may I walk;
With beauty behind me, may I walk;
With beauty above me, may I walk;
With beauty below me, may I walk;
With beauty all around me, may I walk.
Wandering on a trail of beauty,
Lively, I walk."

Version of a Dine' (Navajo) chant

Photos: Arches National Park, UT, April 19-20, 2015

In Beauty May I Walk

Today may I walk out in beauty.
With beauty may I walk.

With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty around me, may I walk

It is finished in beauty.

It is finished in beauty.

Version of a Navajo (Dine') Prayer

Photos: (L) Formations above Professor Creek; (R top)  Prickly-pear cactus with Castle Rock in the background; (R bottom) Hiking in Professor Creek Canyon;  All photos taken near Moab, UT; May 31, 2014

With beauty may I walk.

Today may I walk out in beauty.
With beauty may I walk.
With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty around me, may I walk.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.

Version of a Navajo (Dine') Prayer

Photo: Desert Paintbrush and "The Windows" at sunset; Arches National Park, UT; April 19, 2013

The Navajo word for beauty - "hozho" - has both moral AND aesthetic connotations.

"The term 'hozho' includes everything that a Navajo thinks of as good . . . It expresses such concepts as the words beauty, perfection, harmony, goodness, normality, success, well-being, blessedness, order ideal, do for us. This is probably the central idea in Navajo religious thinking . . . In various contexts it is best translated as 'beautiful,' 'harmonious,' 'good,' blessed,' 'pleasant,' and 'satisfying.' As a matter of fact the difficulty with translation primarily reflects the poverty of English in terms that simultaneously have moral AND aesthetic meaning."

Anthropologists Leland Wyman and Dlyde Kluckhohm

Photo: Courthouse Tower, Arches National Park, UT; April 27, 2013

Mother Earth and Father Sky are eternal helpmates.

"Now the Mother Earth
And the Father Sky
Meeting, joining one another;
Helpmates ever, they"

Navajo poem

Photo: A mountain, clouds, sunlight and forest fire haze create an amazing moment.  Georgia Pass, Mosquito Range, CO; June 23, 2012