I am a tree, with roots in evangelical Christianity and a trunk steeped in contemplative Christian thought and practice. My branches, however, reach into many different religious traditions.

When people first discover that I teach spirituality and follow a spiritual discipline, they often ask me: "What ARE you?"  What they mean is: "Which religion do you follow?"

The response I usually give is this:

"I am a tree, with roots in evangelical Christianity and a trunk steeped in contemplative (or mystical) Christian thought and practice.  My branches, however, reach into many different traditions: Buddhism, Native American spirituality, North American Nature writing, Sufism, Hindu tantra, Taoism, mystical Judaism, Enneagram spirituality, and Jungian psychology, to name a few.  I am all three of these - roots, trunk and branches - simultaneously, at every moment of my life."

In this era of heightened awareness concerning the interconnectedness of all things, how can a person be just one thing? However, if I were to speak of a single, unifying factor that runs through all of these facets of my spiritual journey, that one thing would be Nature, and a passion for the natural imagery that permeates all of the various traditions that are meaningful to me.  Without Nature, my spiritual journey would cease to exist.

Photo: Fremont Cottonwood growing on the shore of Horsetooth Reservoir, near Fort Collins, CO; October 21, 2012