Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.

"Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above."

Henry Van Dyke 

Photo: An abundance of Pasqueflowers bloom on a forest fire burn that occurred several years ago, Greyrock in the background; March 31, 2012

How strange and wonderful is our home, our earth!

 

"How strange and wonderful is our home, our earth, with its swirling vaporous atmosphere, its flowing and frozen liquids . . . To see our world as a space traveler might see it, for the first time, through Venusian eyes or Martian antennae, how utterly rich and wild it would seem, how far beyond the power of the craziest, spaced-out, acid-headed imagination, even a god's, even God's, to conjure up from nothing.

 

Yet some among us have the nerve, the insolence, the brass, the gall to whine about the limitations of our earthbound fate and yearn for some more perfect world beyond the sky. We are none of us good enough for the sweet earth we have, and yet we dream of heaven."

 

Edward Abbey

 

Photo: Lichen rocks and snowy peaks, Battle Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 30, 2012

As for the earth, she is beside herself with sprouts and so happy.

 

"As for the earth, she is beside herself with sprouts and so happy."

Emily Carr

British Columbian painter

Photo: Pasqueflowers in last light, Lory State Park, CO, March 26, 2012

The happy plants long for us to love them.

 

"Every morning, arising from the death of sleep, the happy plants and all our fellow . . . creatures great and small, and even the rocks, seemed to be shouting, 'Awake, awake, rejoice, rejoice, come love us and join in our song.  Come!  Come!' "

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 125

Photo: Yellow Violet "faces," Lory State Park, CO, March 28, 2012.  If you want to check out my new book, "The Contemplative John Muir," go here.http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-hatch/the-contemplative-john-muir/paperback/product-18858846.html

Pasqueflowers teach us sacred introversion

 

Pasqueflowers are truly a welcome sight when they first appear in the foothills during late March, for they indicate the arrival of Spring.  Pushing their purple, tulip-like blooms through the brown expanse of a winter meadow before any other plants appear - and long before even their own leaves venture forth, pasqueflowers evoke courage, stamina and beauty.  

Several adaptations allow these members of the buttercup family to appear so early in the season.  A hollow stem enables each flower to concentrate its own metabolic heat, thereby helping warm the plant during the chill of a March day.  In addition, thick, fuzzy hairs help conserve added heat when winds would suck it all away.  Whenever clouds arrive or the sun begins to set, each flower closes its petals - crocus-like - thereby providing added warmth and creating protection against the sudden rain and snow so typical of early Spring. Finally, pasqueflower blooms have a tendency to follow the sun throughout the day, thus contributing additional heat, making them an attractive shelter for a whole host of insects.

Mirroring our own inner life, pasqueflowers teach us to bloom courageously even when everything around us seems dead, wintry, and devoid of inspiration.  They also instruct us to concentrate our spiritual creativity and energy rather than dissipate ourselves across a welter of external distractions.  Embodying an introversion that puts each of us in touch with the Divine Sun, pasqueflowers offer important lessons that can offer an important antidote to the hectic busyness of our life in society.

Photo: A pasqueflower glows in last light, Lory State Park, CO, March 19, 2012

The natural and common is more truly marvelous and mysterious than the so-called supernatural.

"The natural and common is more truly marvelous and mysterious than the so-called supernatural.  Indeed most of the miracles we hear of are infinitely less wonderful than the commonest of natural phenomena, when fairly seen."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 257

Photo: Yellow Violet, Lory State Park, CO, March 26, 2012.  If you are interested in my new book, "The Contemplative John Muir," go to http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-hatch/the-contemplative-john-muir/paperback/product-18858846.html .

Society is like a bland paste that is constantly stirred, thus rendering the crystallization of individual character more difficult.

"Many come to the mountains for the very purpose of escaping from bondage. There are ropes enough in civilization.  It seems one of the gravest faults of civilized life that uniformity prevents separate development.  The body politic, though at best like a family or composite plant, is beaten into a kind of paste and constantly stirred, thus rendering perfect crystallization of individual character difficult or next to impossible; one is developed only in a special direction like a tree that receives sunshine only on one side."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 211

Photo: Snowbank and ridge above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Range, CO, March 16, 2012.  If you are interested in checking out my new book - "The Contemplative John Muir - go to http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-hatch/the-contemplative-john-muir/paperback/product-18858846.html .

We work too much and rest too little.

 

"The regular tourist, ever on the flow, is one of the most characteristic productions of the present century.  They are a most hopeful and significant sign of the times, indicating at least the beginning of our return to nature.  We work too much and rest too little.  You cannot leave your business?  Yes, but you WILL leave it.  Killed by overwork, you will end up in the hearse of the jolly undertaker."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 213

Photo: Copeland Lake with Copeland Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 24, 2012. If you are interested in checking out my new book, "The Contemplative John Muir," go to

http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-hatch/the-contemplative-john-muir/paperback/product-18858846.html

When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we shall not be ashamed.

 

When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we shall not be ashamed;

To turn, turn, will be our delight,

'Til by turning, turning, we come 'round right.

From the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts," written by Elder Joseph Brackett in 1848 in Alfred, Maine

Photo: Snag with Comanche Peak from the West Ridge in Lory State Park, CO, March 22, 2012

The whole material world seems to be fairyland, enchanted rainbowland.

 

"The whole material world is seen to be Spirit, in life-foundation and essence.  All seems fairyland, enchanted rainbowland."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 81.

Photo: Evening light on the east face of Long's Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 23, 2012

Sensitivity is Sacred

Without a tender, sensitive heart, 

one could never know awe and wonder.

Photo: A tender Spring-beauty blooms in Lory State Park, CO, March 21, 2012

The landscape is like a noble human face glowing with divine peace and joy.

 

"Every day opens and closes like a flower, noiseless, effortless.  Divine peace glows on all the majestic landscape like the silent enthusiastic joy that sometimes transfigures a noble human face."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 186

Photo: Last light glows from a pasqueflower, Lory State Park, CO, March 21, 2012.  If you are interested in obtaining a copy of my book. "The Contemplative John Muir," please go here.

I shall be beautiful while the earth lasts.

 

"I, Sarah Winnemucca, am a shell-flower, such as I wear on my dress.  My name is Thocmetony.  I am so beautiful!  Who will come and dance with me while I am so beautiful?  Oh, come and be happy with me!  I shall be beautiful while the earth lasts."

Sarah Winnemucca,

19th century Paiute activist

I love the unabashed self-confidence expressed in this statement, as well as the fact that Winnemucca connects her beauty to that of the Earth.

Photo: A pasqueflower glows in last light, Lory State Park, CO, March 21, 2012

The chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech.

 

"Wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them.  Now we face the question whether a still higher 'standard of living' is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free.  For us . . . , the opportunity to see wild geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech."

Aldo Leopold, 1949

Photo: The first foothills pasqueflowers of the season!  Young Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO, March 20, 2012

Behold, my brothers, the spring has come. The earth has received the embrace of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of that love!

 

"Behold, my brothers, the spring has come, 

The earth has received the embrace of the sun

And we shall soon see the results of that love!

Every seed is awakened and so has all animal life.

It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being

And we therefore yield to our neighbors . . .

The same rights as ourselves, to inhabit this land."

Sitting Bull

Hunkpapa Lakota Chief

Photo: New leaves appear on a cottonwood tree, Mary Jane Canyon, near Moab, UT, April 17, 2011

The farther off the mountain, the more of heaven's tint it wears.

 

" 'Tis distance [that] lends enchantment to the view . . . Heaven intervenes between me and the object . . . I experience the pleasure of coming into a landscape where there is more distance and a bluish tinge in the horizon.  I am not contented long with narrow valleys where all is greenness in them.  I wish to see the earth translated, the green passing into blue.  How this heaven intervenes and tinges our more distant prospects!  The farther off the mountain which is the goal of our enterprise, the more of heaven's tint it wears.  This is the chief value of distance in landscapes."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Parkview Mountain, viewed from Montgomery Pass, Rawah Range, CO, March 16, 2012

The true essence of civilization involves meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things.

 

" 'Civilization' has been thrust upon me since the days of the reservations, and it has not added one whit to my sense of justice, to my reverence for the rights of life, to my love for truth, honesty, and generosity, or to my faith in Wakan Tanka [the Great Sacred] . . . 

The man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures and acknowledging unity with the universe of things was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization."

Luther Standing Bear

Teton Lakota

Photo: Yellow-bellied marmot, above Lake of the Clouds, Sangre de Cristo Range, CO, July 16, 2011

Health, high spirits and serenity are the great landscape painters.

"Health, high spirits, serenity, these are the great landscape painters.  Turners, Claudes, Rembrandts are nothing to them.  We never see any beauty but as the garment of some virtue . . . The world is but a canvas to our imaginations."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Lichen rocks on the ridge above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 9, 2012.  Thoreau is referring to J.M.W. Turner, the English Romantic landscape painter, and to Claude Monet and Rembrandt van Rijn.

For the Lakota, granting a space of silence before speaking was regardful of the rule that "thought comes before speech."

"Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence before talking was . . . regardful of the rule that 'thought comes before speech' . . . Silence was the mark of respect.  More powerful than words was silence with the Lakota . . . Silence meant what it meant to Disraeli when he said, 'Silence is the mother of truth,' for the silent man was ever to be trusted, while the man ever ready with speech was never taken seriously . . . Conversation was never begun at once, or in a hurried manner.  No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer.  A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation . . . As a little child, it was instilled into me to be silent and reticent.  This was one of the most important traits to form the character of the Indian 

. . . It was considered absolutely necessary, and was thought to lay the foundations of patience and self-control."

Chief Luther Standing Bear

Teton Lakota

Photo: Late light sculpts a snowfield and a peak of the Medicine Bow Range, near Montgomery Pass, CO; March 16, 2012

The land belongs to the Great Spirit, not to any people.

"Some of our chiefs make the claim that the land belongs to us.  It is not what the Great Spirit told me.  He told me that the lands belong to Him, that no people owns the land; that I was not to forget to tell this to the white people when I met them in council."

Kanakuk

Kickapoo tribe

Addressing Lieutenant William Clark, ("Lewis and Clark"), 1827

Photo: Heart-leaved bittercress flowers above Upper Lake of the Clouds, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, CO; July 16, 2011

The warm blood of God flows through mountain granites.

 

"The warm blood of God through all the geologic days of volcanic fire & through all the glacial winters great & small flows through these mountain granites, flows through these frozen streams, flows through trees living and fallen, flows through death itself."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 172

Photo: Alpenglow on Long's Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 9, 2012.  If you are interested in my book - "The Contemplative John Muir," go to http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-contemplative-john-muir/18858846

Women are the manifestation of Mother Earth in human form.

"Women, all females are the manifestation of Mother Earth in human form."

Winona LaDuke

Anishinaabe

Photo: Joanne at the Loch, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 10, 2012

The Earth and Myself are of One Mind

"The Earth and myself are of one mind."

Chief Joseph

Nez Perce

Photo: Alpenglow on Long's Peak, reflected in Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, March 9, 2012

Every Creature Possesses a Soul

 

"We believe that the spirit pervades all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in some degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious of itself.  The tree, the waterfall, the grizzly bear, each is an embodied Force, and as such an object of reverence."

Ohiyesa, Santee Dakota writer

Photo: Subalpine fir and Notchtop Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 9, 2012

Bliss means absolute silence, but a silence that sings.

 

"Bliss means absolute silence, but a silence that sings, a silence that is capable of celebration. Bliss means peace but not a dead peace, not the peace that exists in the cemetery, but the peace that surrounds the peaks of high mountains — alive, thriving, pulsating, no noise but a tremendous melody."

Osho

Photo: Ice patterns on the Loch, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 10, 2012

Human loneliness is actually God's loneliness.

 

I am like an addict

In my longing for a sublime state,

For that ground of Conscious Nothing

Where the Rose ever

Blooms 

. . . Now that the heart has held

That which can never be touched

My subsistence is a blessed 

Desolation

And from that I cry for more loneliness.

 

I am lonely.

I am so lonely, dear Beloved,

For the quintessence of

Loneliness,

For what is more alone than God?

Hafiz

Photo: Sunset on the Loch, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 10, 2012

Let us have the thoughts of God in silence and solitude, far from stupefying noises and vice, far from ourselves.

 

"What nobler employment can we engage in than having the thoughts of God in silence and solitude as best we can, where the manifestations of His power are barest, far from stupefying noises and vice, far from ourselves . . .?"

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 238

Photo: Two Rivers Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 9, 2012.  Here is a link to The Contemplative John Muir.

"If our light shines, we won't need to tell anyone it does."

 

 "We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does.  Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining - they just shine."

Dwight Moody, 19th century American evangelist

Photo: Lighthouse at Trinidad Beach, Trinidad, CA, July 31, 2011

All terrestrial things are essentially celestial

 

"All terrestrial things are essentially celestial, just as water beaten into foam, crystallized in ice, or warming into vapor, or steam, dew, or rain, is still water . . . All human love is in like manner Divine Love."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 65

Photo: A sunburst caused by blowing snow, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, February 24, 2012

Enjoy the night of this life as much as you can, for the daylight Sun will eventually turn you back into Spirit

 

It rained during the night

And two puddles formed in the dark

They began chatting.

One said,

"It is so nice to at last be upon this earth

And to meet you as well,

But what will happen when

The brilliant Sun comes

And turns us back into spirit again?

Dear ones,

Enjoy the night as much as you can.

Why ever trouble your heart with flight,

When you have just arrived

And your body is so full of warm desires?

Hafiz

Photo: Frozen puddles, Needles District, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 25, 2010

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."

 R. Buckminster Fuller

Photo: Butterfly at the Butterfly Pavilion, Westminster, CO, March 3, 2012

Waiting for spring has a deep psychological impact on us.

 

"To anyone who has spent a winter in the north . . . , the first hint of spring is a major event . . . To appreciate it, you must wait for it a long time, hope and dream about it, and go through considerable enduring.  Looking forward to spring plays the same part in morale building in the north as rumors do in an army camp.  The very thought of it is something to live for when the days are bitter and winter is stretching out a little longer than it should.

"Waiting has a deep psychological impact on all of us and most people know it is not necessarily the waste of time it might appear to be at the moment.  Waiting gives us a chance to realize we cannot solve the complicated puzzles of our lives without considering the vast complex series of variables that have a bearing on everything we do.

Sigurd F. Olson

Photo: Spring-beauty flowers blooming on a south-facing hillside, Lory State Park, CO, March 5, 2012

The butterfly is a flying flower; the flower is a tethered butterfly.

 "The butterfly is a flying flower;  the flower a tethered butterfly." 

  Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun

   Photo:  Butterfly at the Butterfly Pavilion, Westminster, CO, March 3, 2012

  

Happiness arrives when we sit in silence rather than try to hunt it down.

 

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Photo: Butterfly at the Butterfly Pavilion, Westminster, CO, March 3, 2012

Chuang Chou didn't know if he was Chuang Chou dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Chuang Chou!

 

"Once Chuang Chou dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased.  He didn't know he was Chuang Chou.  Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Chuang Chou.  But he didn't know if he was Chuang Chou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Chuang Chou.  Between Chuang and a butterfly there must be SOME distinction!  This is called the Transformation of Things."

Chuang Tzu, Taoist sage, 4th century B.C.E.

Photo: Butterfly at the Butterfly Pavilion, Westminster, CO, March 3, 2012

God's eyes are painting fields again

 

The sun's eyes are painting fields again.

 Its lashes with expert strokes

Are sweeping across the land

 A great palette of light has embraced

This earth . . .

God's eyes are painting fields again . . .

Hafiz

14th century

I am because You look at me . . .

Life eternal is nothing other than that blessed regard

with which You never cease

most lovingly to behold me . . .

With You, to behold is to give life . . .

 Feed me with Your gaze, O Lord . . .

For with You to see is to cause.

Nicholas of Cusa

15th century

To sit and look at light-filled leaves

May let us see, or seem to see . . .

Time when the Maker's radiant sight

Made radiant every thing He saw,

And every thing He saw was filled

With perfect joy and life and light.

Wendell Berry

Photo:  Feathery Mountain-mahogany seeds glow silver in last light, Lory State Park, CO, February 21, 2012

The very storms seem talkative

"The whole wilderness seems to be alive and familiar, full of humanity.  The very storms seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly.  No wonder when we consider that we all have the same Father and Mother."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 116.

Photo: A fierce wind kicks up the snow, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, February 24, 2012

The mountain passes kill care, save us from deadly apathy, and set us free.

 

"Fear not to try the mountain-passes.  They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action.  Even the sick should try these so-called dangerous passes, because for every unfortunate [person] they kill, they cure a thousand."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 234

Photo: Snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, February 24, 2012

Only when we sacrifice ourselves into union with the Divine are we reborn from the Divine.

Once upon a time there was a puppet made of salt who had traveled a long time through dry and desert places until one evening he came to a sea which he had never before seen and didn't know what it was.  The puppet asked the sea: "Who are you?"  "I am the sea," it replied.  "But," the puppet insisted, "What is the sea?"  "I AM," was the answer.  "I don't understand," said the puppet made of salt.  The sea replied, "That's easy; touch me!"  The salt puppet timidly touched the sea with the tip of his toes.  At that moment he realized that the sea began to make itself vividly perceptible, but at the same time he noticed the tips of his toes had disappeared. "What have you done to me?" he cried to the sea.  "You have given a little of yourself to understand me," the sea replied.  

Slowly, the salt puppet began to walk into the sea with great solemnity as though he were about to perform the most important act of his life.  The further he moved along, the more he dissolved, but at the same time he had the impression that he knew more and more about the sea.  Again and again, the puppet asked, "What is the sea?" until the waves covered him completely.  Just before he was entirely dissolved by the sea, he exclaimed: "I exist!"

Hymns to the Beloved

The Divine cannot be known from the outside; only union brings about this sort of knowledge.  Classically, the term for this is "mysticism" - union with Ultimate Reality.  As this parable illustrates, we only know the Divine by sacrificing ourselves - through love - into union with the Beloved.  It is then that we realize that we are reborn - out of the seamless ocean of Divine Love - at each and every moment. Indeed, sacrifice-and-rebirth is a continual process. When this realization occurs, our perspective suddenly shifts.  For we then see that the spiritual journey is less about knowing God - the oceanic All - than about being known by - and embraced within - God, the All.  As Thomas Merton says, "Our knowledge of God is paradoxically a knowledge not of him  as the object of our scrutiny, but of ourselves  as utterly dependent on his saving and merciful knowledge of us."  Rabbi Abraham Heschel agrees when he writes: "To think of God is not to find Him as an object in our minds, but to find ourselves in Him . . . a perception of our being perceived.  The task is not to know the unknown but to be penetrated with it; not to know but to be known to Him, to expose ourselves to Him rather than Him to us." In this awareness is our transformation.

Photo: Gold Bluffs Beach, Redwood National Park, CA, August 2, 2011

The great world religions are like ships, and every sane person eventually jumps overboard into the lifeboat of poetry.

 

The 

Great religions are the

Ships,

Poets the life

Boats.

Every sane person I know has jumped

Overboard.

That is good for [the poetry] business

Isn't it

Hafiz?

Hafiz, 14th century

Photo: Trinidad Harbor, CA, July 31, 2011