To live a life of adventure, we have to die to the need to feel successful, safe, secure, or even right.

I am convinced that the only life worth living is one of ADVENTURE.  But being an adventurer means that often we will seem to fail.  In exploring the canyon country of the spirit, we sometimes find ourselves caught in a box canyon, and realize that we have to retrace our steps.  But that kind of backtracking is always an element of any true adventure. There are many times when we will need to DIE to the need to feel successful, safe, secure, or even right. Because others will often accuse us of being wrong or foolish, we will need to die especially to a reliance on the favorable opinions of others.  But this experience of death is simply the flip side of our quest for adventure.  After all, the inner life of the Creator is based on both adventure and risk.  As theologian John Cobb says, "God's own life is an adventure, for the novel enjoyments that are promoted among the creatures are then the experiences providing the material for God's own enjoyment . . . God's life is also an adventure in the sense of being a RISK, since God will feel discord as well as beautiful experiences. The Adventure of the Universe starts with the dream and reaps tragic Beauty."  This tragic element involves all of the failures and deaths that God experiences within an evolving world that is striving continually to manifest Beauty.   If God's own life involves the risk that is an inherent element of a world based in freedom, novelty and surprise, then we too can find the strength we need to take the risk of adventurous living. What other kind of life is worth living?

Photo: Pasqueflowers appear out of the dead grasses of winter; Horsetooth Mountain Park, CO; March 30, 2013

We faithfully watch and await the reappearance of everything that melts and fades and dies about us.

"We learn that no particle of Nature's material is wasted or worn out.  It is eternally flowing from use to use, beauty to yet higher beauty; and we soon cease to lament waste and death, and rather rejoice and exult in the imperishable, unspendable wealth of the universe, and faithfully watch and await the reappearance of everything that melts and fades and dies about us, feeling sure that its next appearance will be better and more beautiful than the last."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 298

Photo: Pasqueflowers arising out of the ashes; Hewlett Burn, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; March 28, 2013

Out of these ashes, beauty will rise.

"Out of these ashes, beauty will rise

For we know joy is coming in the morning

In the morning, beauty will rise"

Steven Curtis Chapman

Photo: This is the first Pasqueflower I've found this Spring!  It is blooming at the base of Greyrock in a meadow that burned last May;  Hewlett Burn, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; March 29, 2013

To exist everywhere in God, I have to be No-one.

"To be one with One Whom one cannot see is to be hidden, to be nowhere, to be no one; it is to be unknown as He is unknown, forgotten as He is forgotten, lost as He is lost to the world which nevertheless exists in Him.  Yet to live in Him is to live by His power, to reach from end to end of the universe in the might of His wisdom . . . [As a monk], I disappear from the world as an object of interest in order to be everywhere in it by hiddenness and compassion.  To exist everywhere I have to be No-one."

Thomas Merton

Photo: The Loch, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 21, 2013

To be truly great, we must totally disappear in God.

"The monastic spirit of prayer is the same as that which made Jesus spend whole nights on the mountainside alone with His Father.  It is a spirit of adoration and contemplation which drives the monk to LOSE himself in the beauty and magnificence of the mystery of God . . . Our human notions of what is 'great' and 'big' and 'noble' are all corrupted by egoism.  We find it difficult to realize that one who would be truly great must totally DISAPPEAR."

Thomas Merton

Photo: The cliffs of Thatchtop Mountain glow in last light; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 21, 2013

Winds bring us both energy and inner peace.

"Winds will blow their own freshness into you, and storms will give you new energy . . . In the most ungovernable displays of wild energy there never is wanting an inner spirit of repose."

The Contemplative John Muir, pp. 187, 190

Photo: Windstorm on Mt. Otis, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 22, 2013

A major element of spiritual growth is the realization that we lean in one particular direction.

One of the most important elements of human spiritual development is the ability to make conscious our own personal, cultural and religious biases.  When we realize that we lean in a particular direction, this fosters a humility which understands there are a multitude of other ways of  leaning as well.  Just as important is the realization that every position - including ours - contains both positive and negative elements.  Obviously, we choose the particular slant that we believe has the least disadvantages, but we come to realize that negative aspects are nevertheless always present.

Photo: Leaning Subalpine Fir trees; The Loch, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 21, 2013

The earth as seen in the clean wilds of the mountains is about as divine as anything the heart of man can conceive!

"The earth as seen in the clean wilds of the mountains is about as divine as anything the heart of man can conceive!"

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 62

Photo: Lake Agnes, Never Summer Range, CO; March 15, 2013

Contemplative attitudes really stand out in a society focused on hyperactivity.

Just as plant color really stands out in the brown landscape of early Spring, so the contemplative attitudes of tranquility and mindfulness become highlighted in a society focused on speed and hyperactivity.

Photo: Oregon Holly-grape leaf with the Flatirons in the background; Boulder, CO, March 22, 2013

Beautiful! Beautiful! Magnificent desolation.

"Beautiful! Beautiful! Magnificent desolation."

Buzz Aldrin,
Astronaut, exclaiming about the moon on July 20, 1969.

Photo: Snag from the Hewlett Fire, with Greyrock in the background; Poudre Canyon, CO; March 19, 2013. Aldrin was the second person to walk on the moon.

Confidence is the greatest friend.

"Confidence is the greatest friend."


Lao Tzu

This quote speaks to me of the fact that confidence is not a mere quality that we possess. Rather, confidence is a sort of friend who has a life of her own.  She is a companion who never fails to "confide" in us, one who desires a a strong and intimate relationship with us.

Photo:  Talk about being "in your face"!  The massiveness of this mountain mirrors for me my own inner confidence.  Never Summer Range, CO; March 15, 2013

God IS this great feeling of solitude with which we are all born.

"God IS this great feeling of solitude with which we are all born."

Ernesto Cardenal,
Nicaraguan poet

Photo: A lone Limber Pine stands in front of a snowy peak; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2013

There is just as much beauty visible to us in the landscape as we are prepared to appreciate.

"There is just as much beauty visible to us in the landscape as we are prepared to appreciate, - not a grain more."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Ice patterns on Dream Lake; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2013

Whoso would be a person must be a nonconformist.

"Whoso would be a person must be a nonconformist."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo: Limber Pine stump on Nymph Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2013

Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness.

"Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness."

Publilius Syrus
First Century B.C.E., Italy

Photo: Snowshoe trail, Never Summer Range, CO; March 15, 2013. Syrus was a Syrian who was brought as a slave to Italy. However, by his wit and talent, he won the favor of his master, who freed and educated him. He is most famous for his collection of moral maxims.

I feel wild and unmanageable. How gloriously it storms!

"I feel wild and unmanageable . . . How gloriously it storms! The pines are in ecstasy, and I feel it and must go out to them. I must borrow a big coat and mingle with the storm and make some studies."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 199

Photo: Dream Lake in a driving snowstorm, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2013. "You've got to be kidding me!" the camera seemed to be saying as I took this shot. "What do I focus on?" Most of the shots from this series are unusable because I couldn't keep the lens snow-free!

The storms of life make us more beautiful.

When we allow the storms of life to pummel us as we go out on a limb and explore new inner ground, we develop a unique sense of character that makes us appear even more beautiful.

Photo: Twisted Limber Pine in a driving snowstorm; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2013

Nature is more pure than society.

"You mention the refining influences of society. Compared with the intense purity and cordiality and beauty of nature, the most delicate refinements and cultures of civilization are gross barbarisms."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 214

Photo: Lake Agnes, Never Summer Range, CO; March 15, 2013

The beauty and majesty of Nature protect us against the modern societal "powers of darkness."

At Tara today in this fateful hour

I place all Heaven with its power,

And the Sun with its brightness,

And the snow with its whiteness,

And Fire with all the strength it hath,

And lightning with its rapid wrath,

And the winds with their swiftness along the path,

And the sea with its deepness,

And the rocks with their steepness,

And the Earth with its starkness:

All these I place

By God's almighty help and grace,

Between myself and the powers of Darkness.

St. Patrick

Photo: The Sun peers through the fog above Devil's Backbone; Larimer County, CO; March 9, 2013. Today the "powers of darkness" are corporate greed, a hectic, anxious lifestyle, despair, depression and a feeling of alienation. Now more than ever we need the beauty and majesty of Nature to embody and mirror for us the optimism of our innermost self.

The fruit of study is the ability to perceive the Word of God within all things.

"What is the fruit of study?  To perceive the eternal Word of God reflected in every plant and insect, every bird and animal, and every man and woman."

From St. Ninian's Catechism, 
5th century Ireland

Photo: Spring-Beauty flowers, Lory State Park, CO; March 14, 2013.  TToday we celebrate Patrick's Celtic spirituality, which enables us to see God in a vivid manner in the world of Nature.

Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.

"Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words."

Source Unknown

Often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

Photo: Limber Pine cone and Kinnickinnick in its winter dress; Vedauwoo Recreation Area, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY; March 8, 2013.  Even though this quote (along with "Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace . . .") was not spoken by St. Francis, it is definitely in his spirit.

Better keep yourself clean and bright. You are the window through which you must see the world.

"Better keep yourself clean and bright.  You are the window through which you must see the world."

George Bernard Shaw

Photo: The Sun peers through the mist above the Keyhole; Devil's Backbone Open Space, Larimer County, CO; March 9, 2013

With man, all is uncertainty. Nature is confident.

"With man, all is uncertainty. Nature is confident."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Kinnickinnick in its winter dress, with Vedauwoo Rocks in the background; Medicine Bow National Forest, WY; March 8, 2013

It is not enough to be industrious. What are you industrious about?

"It is not enough to be industrious . . . What are you industrious about?"

Henry David Thoreau

I've noticed that oftentimes, when someone asks: "What have you been up to, lately?"  they are looking for a specific answer.  Generally, that answer is: "Well, I've been really busy."  Then you can almost hear the sigh of relief in the questioner. I wonder why busyness in our culture is so valued?  Thoreau reminds us that mere activity as an end in itself is not a thing to be sought after.  Rather, we are meant to focus our industrious energy on those things that bring the most meaning to life.  Meaning always involves being connected to something Bigger which works in and through us.  Amazingly, we are meant to be a vessel through which the Earth knows and celebrates her own beauty and goodness.  Are we up to the task?

Photo: Beaver logs on a dried-up pond; Vedauwoo Recreation Area; Medicine Bow National Fores, WY; March 8, 2013

Mountaintop vistas help us expand our awareness.

Mountaintop vistas help us expand our awareness beyond the tight, leaden, claustraphobic feeling we so often have when immersed in the concerns of daily life.  Far-reaching views mirror for us the spacious freedom of a mind and heart engaged in meditation, providing a sense of optimism, a feeling of hope for the future. They are the essence of the American West.

Photo: A view of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness in the Park Range and the wide expanse of North Park; from the ridge above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.  When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

Aldo Leopold

Photo: A community of Engelmann Spruces, with Crown Point in the background; Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

Our lives are rooted in solitude.

A temptation that comes from societal life - especially for those of us who are trying to develop our own business - is to orient ourselves around what others think of us and our creations.  Keeping close track of Facebook "Likes" and comments and the number of people who visit our site is a symptom of this attitude, which easily develops into an obsession. However, while on my Friday retreat last week in the mountains, I was reminded that SOLITUDE is the ultimate reality.  For each of us, our lives exist in the relational space between God - the Ultimate Mystery, the Great Beyond, "Father Sky" - and the Goddess  - Sophia, the Web of Life, "Mother Earth" - each of whom is emptied in bliss into that central space which we inhabit. It is this "between" place that is the great solitude lying at the heart of all things. At their core, all people are simply echoes of  that primal and mutual bliss, accessed through silence.  When I keep this truth in mind, all is right in my life.  When I forget, things get confusing. I pray that each of us might cultivate that reservoir of solitude, and offer our gifts to the world from that sacred place.

Photo: This Englemann Spruce is an outlier tree right at treeline.  In the distance is the sign at the top of Montgomery Pass; Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

The beauty of the snowy landscape will soon be flowing through my veins.

I love imagining that in a few months, the beauty of this snowy landscape will be flowing through my veins, nourishing my brain and heart, making thoughts, insights and feelings possible, enabling me to continue hiking and exploring the wonder of this incredible outdoor "church."

Photo: Dwarf Englemann Spruce trees and Parkview Mountain viewed from Montgomery Pass; Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.

"The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly."

Friedrich Nietzsche

Photo: Golden Eagle, Lory State Park, CO; March 6, 2013

March water is bluer than any other.

"I have a friend who says that March water is bluer than any other.  It certainly carries its blueness straighter into the heart."

Frank Bolles,
19th century American writer

Photo: curves of snow near Montgomery Pass; Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

Love fills the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.

Love, whether newly born or aroused from a death-like slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world."

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Photo: Bellvue Dome and Rabbitbrush at sunset; Watson Lake, Bellvue, CO; March 7, 2013

A trail seeks out all the beauty spots and, like a great character, finds only that which is the best.

"The trail is the passage to nature's wonderland.  With all its curves and windings it is essentially poetic; it knows the beauty of flowing lines; it is ever in the midst of those things that charm and cheer.  It seeks out all the beauty spots and, like a great character, finds only that which is the best."

Enos Mills,
founder, Rocky Mountain National Park

Photo: Snowy Engelmann Spruce and Subalpine Fir next to the Montgomery Pass Trail; Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

In this silent, serene wilderness the weary can gain a heart-bath in perfect peace.

"In this silent, serene wilderness the weary can gain a heart-bath in perfect peace."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 187

Photo: The day after a heavy snow; Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

The tender, sculpturesque, immaculate, warming, fertilizing snow.

"A snow-covered plain is the face of death; yet snow is but the mask of the life-giving rain; it, too, is the friend of man, - the tender, sculpturesque, immaculate, warming, fertilizing snow."

John Burroughs
(friend of John Muir)

Photo: Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains; March 2, 2013

In winter, we get the sense that something under the snow is waiting.

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape - the loneliness of it - the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it - the whole story doesn't show."

Andrew Wyeth,
American painter

Photo: Sculptured snow, Engelmann spruce trees, and the Diamond Peaks; Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

We are chock-full of loveability.

As human beings, we are always looking for reasons why others might consider us lovable. We hope to be good-looking, intelligent, caring, inquisitive, strong, interesting, and passionate - all traits we believe other people will find attractive.  However, our life experience teaches us that all but a few close friends - and perhaps family members - do NOT think we are all that special.  To them, we are simply run-of-the-mill people, potentially replaceable by a million others.  However, this discovery need not make us feel discouraged.  For the seeming rejection we experience from others is precisely the goad we need to seek for a deeper acceptance.  When we do this, we find a divine love that wells up from the center of our being and holds our awareness in Its warm embrace.  As this occurs, we realize that the question is not "Am I lovable?"  Rather it is as though the Divine playfully exclaims: "How WOULDN'T you be lovable!"  Here we realize that we are chock-full of worth, like a tree plastered with so much snow it can't hold any more of the delicious crystalline loveliness.  In fact, what we often think of as the absence of divine love is actually a playful situation in which God pushes us away into the world, asking: "How WOULDN'T you be lovable in THIS situation!" or "How WOULDN'T you be lovable in THAT event!"  In other words, our innate divinity is so much an assumed reality that we have to be pushed away from our Source, causing us momentarily to feel  stuck in a land of doubts and a multitude of  life-challenges.  Usually, the "WOULDN'T" is the only part of the "phrase" we hear, leading us to believe that we are not at all lovable. But if we persevere with this dryness of affection, we begin to develop the faith necessary to understand that our loveability is an ASSUMED reality.  Indeed, we have to be pushed away from this truth in order to be able to affirm it, like holding a mirror AWAY from our face as a means of beholding our appearance more clearly than if it were shoved up against our nose. Thus, seeming indifference on the part of God is actually an intense affirmation of our divine worth.  How mind- blowing is that!

Photo: Subalpine Fir full of snow; Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

The beauty of the sky and landscape from which our water comes is ALSO inside of us!

"About 70 percent of the human body is made up of water and, coincidentally, more than 70 percent of Earth is covered in water."

NASA Fact Sheet

Our lives would be transformed from ordinary to spectacular if we could grasp - at a very deep level - that the beauty of the sky and landscape from which our water comes is ALSO inside of us!

Photo: Montgomery Pass after a heavy snow, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

We need rest and clean snow and sky.

"I know that our bodies were made to thrive only in pure air, and the scenes in which pure air is found . . . We need rest and clean snow and sky . . ."

The Contemplative John Muir, pp. 213, 214

Photo: Ice crystals encrust a lichen-covered rock; above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

The Inner Light is the doctrine that there is something Divine in the human soul.

"The Inner Light is the doctrine that there is something Divine, ‘Something of God’ in the human soul"

Rufus Jones, 1904
Quaker scholar

Photo: Montgomery Pass Ski and Snowshoe Trail, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; March 2, 2013

My New Website: Stephen Hatch Photography

Dear Readers:

I now have a new website - Stephen Hatch Photography - where you can order photo enlargements and mounted pieces.  There you'll even find pieces with a quote included!  I hope you enjoy the site!

In the Spirit of Wildness,
Stephen 

Each of us is responsible to the Creator for sharing our own unique vision in the world.

For those of us who make a habit of looking at life from a multitude of different perspectives - the views, that is, of other people, cultures and religions - it is easy to be self-critical of our own perspective, realizing that it is innately incomplete. Our temptation therefore is to avoid sharing it. After all, we are well aware of the history of oppression of minority points of view by hierarchies and institutions, and we want to make sure that we do not follow that pattern.  However, all people - including us - have been given a unique set of insights by the Creator.  If we do not follow through on our own particular vision, it will never be made known in the world, for others certainly will not do it FOR us.  It is up to us, in cooperation with grace. Of course we are an incomplete vessel of the Divine.  There will always be someone who will interpret some element of our vision as potentially oppressive. But what vision is perfect?  Every view sees only a portion of the Whole and therefore has its flaws. If we are sincere about being conscientious, our vision is no worse than the view of any other conscientious person. Like every other spiritual seeker's vision, ours is one piece of the infinitely vast puzzle of truth. Therefore, there is no excuse for us NOT to share our own unique vision. For that is  why we have been put here on this Earth.

Photo: A lone aspen stands up in the mist, with Sprague Lake in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 22, 2013

Like fragile ice, anger passes away in time.

"Like fragile ice, anger passes away in time."

Ovid

Roman poet, d. 17 A.D.

Photo:  Icicles, with Bellvue Dome in the background; Bellvue, CO; February 24, 2013

I hope you love birds, too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.

"I hope you love birds, too.  It is economical.  It saves going to heaven."

Emily Dickinson

Photo: Northern Flicker on my birdfeeder; Larimer County, CO; February 24, 2013

When we hear good music, the field of our lives becomes a boundless plain!

"What is there in music that it should so stir our deeps?  We are all ordinarily in a state of desperation; such is our life; ofttimes it drives us to suicide.  To how many, perhaps to most, life is barely tolerable, and if it were not for the fear of death or of dying, what a multitude would immediately commit suicide!  But let us hear a strain of music; we are at once advised of a life which no person had told us of, which no preacher preaches.  Suppose I try to describe faithfully the prospect which a strain of music exhibits to me.  THE FIELD OF MY LIFE BECOMES A BOUNDLESS PLAIN, glorious to tread, with no death nor disappointment at the end of it.  All meanness and trivialness disappear.  I become adequate to any deed.  No particulars survive this expansion; persons do not survive it. In the light of this strain there is no thou nor I.  We are actually lifted above ourselves."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo:  A blustery day on Bierstadt Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 22, 2013