This I may say is the first time I have been at church in California!

"This I may say is the first time I have been at church in California, led here at last, every door graciously opened for the poor lonely worshiper.  In our best times, everything turns into religion, all the world seems a church, and the mountains altars."

John Muir, after climbing Cathedral Peak, 1869
(The Contemplative John Muir, p. 53)

Photo: Broadfleaf Lupine at Cathedral Peak, Yosemite National Park, CA; July 28, 2012

This quote appears on the sign at the Cathedral Lakes Trailhead near Tuolumne Meadows.  While hiking at Yosemite, it occurred to me that one of the things that makes Yosemite so special is the fact that a person - John Muir - was so passionate about the beauty of this particular landscape.  We might say, in fact, that the soul indwelling Yosemite became conscious within the mind, heart and exuberant writings of Muir.  Each of us is called similarly to become the self-awareness of the landscapes we find most attractive. Indeed, this attraction is actually the soul of the landscape herself luring us so that she may become conscious within us!