When your mind is silent, then the forest suddenly becomes magnificently real and blazes transparently with the Reality of God.

"When your tongue is silent, you can rest in the silence of the forest.  When your imagination is silent, the forest speaks to you . . . But when your mind is silent, then the forest suddenly becomes magnificently real and blazes transparently with the Reality of God."

Thomas Merton

Photo:  Aspen trees glow in the day's first light; Vail, CO; November 23, 2012