The manic pace of our modern lives can be brought into balance by simply giving in to the silence of the desert . . .

"The manic pace of our modern lives can be brought into balance by simply giving in to the silence of the desert, the pounding of a Pacific surf, the darkness and brilliance of a night sky far away from the city."

Terry Tempest Williams

Photos: (Top) Juniper berries and Corona Arch, near Moab, UT; (Middle) Desert Paintbrush, a pool, and one of the Courthouse Towers, Arches National Park, UT; (Bottom) Looking up at Broken Arch, Arches National Park, UT. All three photos were taken on April 19, 2015

Wilderness is a metaphor of unlimited possibility . . .

"Wilderness is both the bedrock lands of southern Utah and a metaphor of 'unlimited possibility.' The question must be asked, 'How can we cut ourselves off from the very source of our creation?' This is not about economics. We are talking about the body of the beloved, not real estate. We must ask ourselves as Americans, 'Can we really survive the worship of our own destructiveness?' We do not exist in isolation. Our sense of community and compassionate intelligence must be extended to all life-forms, plants, animals, rocks, rivers, and human beings."

Terry Tempest Williams
speaking before a U.S. Senate subcommittee
on forest and public lands management

Photos: Balanced Rock, North Window, and one of the Courthouse Towers, Arches National Park, UT, April 19-20, 2015

I want my life to be a celebration of s l o w n e s s.

"Perhaps this is what I desire most . . . , becoming a caretaker of silence, a connoisseur of stillness, a listener of wind where each dialect is not only heard but understood . . . In the vastness of the desert, I want to create my days as a ceremony around s l o w n e s s . . . I want my life to be a celebration of s l o w n e s s."

Terry Tempest Williams

Photos: Colorful rock layers, Desert Paintbrush, a pool, Turret Arch, and Cliffrose; Arches National Park, UT, April 19-20, 2015

The blood-red hues of the desert remind us that wild country is essential to our psychology.

"As the world becomes more crowded and corroded by consumption and capitalism, this landscape of minimalism will take on greater significance, reminding us through its blood red grandeur just how essential wild country is to our psychology, how precious the desert is to the soul of America."

Terry Tempest Williams

Photos: (Top) Juniper berries and South Window at sunrise, Arches National Park, UT, April 20, 2015; (Middle) Stemless Woolybase and Corona Arch, near Moab, UT, April 19, 2015; (Bottom) Matted Pea, Red Canyon Open Space, Larimer County, CO, April 25, 2015

Wilderness holds an original presence giving expression to that which we lack.

"The Colorado Plateau is wild. There is still wilderness here, big wilderness. Wilderness holds an original presence giving expression to that which we lack, the losses we long to recover, the absences we seek to fill   . . ."

"Wilderness revives the memory of unity. Through its protection, we can find faith in our humanity."


Terry Tempest Williams 

Photos: (Top) North Window at sunrise; (Second) Desert Paintbrush and Wall Street; (Third) Dwarf Evening-Primrose and The Three Gossips (Three Muses); (Bottom) Claret Cup Cactus. All four photos were taken at Arches National Park, UT, on April 19-20, 2015

The redrock desert of southern Utah teaches me over and over again: red endures.

"The redrock desert of southern Utah teaches me over and over again: red endures, . . . a passion for the bloodroot country of my burning soul . . . Where we live [near Moab], red is endemic, finding its way into every opening, large or small, seeping into each pore of the skin, staining fingers and toes . . . At night, red dirt colors our dreams as we rub our eyes, scratch our eyes, sneeze, cough, as each red particle of sand works its way into the nucleus of every living, breathing, multiplying cell."

Terry Tempest Williams

Photos: (Top) Sunset at Arches National Park, UT; (Middle) Claret Cup Cactus, Corona Arch Trail, near Moab, UT; (Bottom) North Window at sunrise. All three photos were taken on April 18-20, 2015

The Spiritual Symbolism of the Phallus

"I wonder what walls we have constructed to keep our true erotic nature tamed. And I am curious why we continue to distance ourselves from natural sources. What are we afraid of? . . . We need a context for eros, not a pedestal, not a video screen. The lightning we witness crack and charge a night sky in the desert is the same electricity we feel in ourselves whenever we dare to touch flesh, rock, body, Earth."

Terry Tempest Williams

For me, the phallus represents the capacity of the masculine Great Mystery - God, the Ultimate Transcendent, Father Sky - to lovingly penetrate through the surface of each and every creature and event in order to find the Sacred Feminine - the Goddess, Mother Earth, Sophia, Gaia - present at its core, in all of her grandeur and beauty.

Photos: "The Phallus," with Desert Paintbrush and Dwarf Evening-Primrose, Arches National Park, UT, April 20, 2015

Where I live, the open space of desire is red . . .

"Where I live, the open space of desire is red. The desert before me is red is rose is pink is scarlet is magenta is salmon. The colors are swimming in light as it changes constantly, with cloud cover with rain with wind with light, delectable light, delicious light. The palette of erosion is red, is running red water, red river, my own blood flowing downriver; my desire is red. This landscape can be read . . . Can we learn to speak the language of red? . . . I want to learn the language of the desert, to be able to translate this landscape of red into a language of heat that quickens the heart and gives courage to silence, a silence that can be heard. I want to learn how to speak the language of red. Red cries out for the body; open the body and it bleeds."

Terry Tempest Williams,
"Red"

Photos: (Top) Sunset, South Window, Arches National Park, UT; (Middle) Desert Paintbrush, Corona Arch Trail, near Moab, UT; (Bottom) Whipple's Fishhook Cactus, Corona Arch Trail, near Moab, UT; All three photos were taken April 18-20, 2015

A Declaration of Interdependence is our nation's next step!

"In the future, brave men and women will write a Declaration of Interdependence that will be read and honored alongside the Declaration of Independence: proof of our evolution, revolution of our own growth and understanding.  The open space of democracy provides justice for all living things - plants, animals, rocks, and rivers, as well as human beings.  It is a landscape that encourages diversity and discourages conformity."

Terry Tempest Williams,
"The Open Space of Democracy"

Photo: The red-white-and-blue of Cliff Paintbrush, snowy Mount Rainier, and the deep blue sky; above Spray Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA; July 28, 2013

It is a vulnerable enterprise to feel deeply about a landscape.

"I think of my own stream of desires, how cautious I have become with love.  It is a vulnerable enterprise to feel deeply and I may not survive my affections.  Andre Breton says, 'Hardly anyone dares to face with open eyes the great delights of love.'  If I choose not to become attached to nouns - a person, place, or thing - then when I refuse an intimate's love or hoard my spirit, when a known landscape is . . . [reduced] to a stubble . . . , my heart cannot be broken because I never risked giving it away . . . The land is love.  Love is what we fear . .. It is time for us to take off ours masks . . . and admit we are lovers, engaged in an erotics of place.  Loving the land . . . It is a primal affair."

Terry Tempest Williams

Photo: Prairie Coneflower (Mexican Hat) with Horsetooth Reservoir in the middleground, and the High Park Fire in the background close to sunset; June 11, 2012.  Near Ft. Collins, CO. The fire is now at 43, 000 acres.