A leap of faith involves trust in revelation that we have personally received.

Faith does not involve merely trusting in an epiphany that has occurred to someone else.  Rather, it consists in trusting OUR OWN experience of the Divine. Faith leaps past the confusion of any given moment and moves toward the re-presenting of an insight we've received at some point through personal revelation.  When the elation of the insight disappears - as it inevitably will - then faith is needed to wholeheartedly EMBODY the insight in our lives and not simply relying on feeling it.

Photo: Canyonlands Biscuitroot and Landscape Arch; Arches National Park, UT; April 20, 2013

I am so beautiful, sometimes people weep when they see me.

“I am so beautiful, sometimes people weep when they see me. And it has nothing to do with what I look like really; it is just that I gave myself the power to say that I am beautiful, and if I could do that, maybe there is hope for them too. And the great divide between the beautiful and the ugly will cease to be. Because we are all what we choose.”

Margaret Cho

Photo: Desert Paintbrush and Courthouse Towers, just after sunrise; Arches National Park, UT; April 21, 2013

Each of us is backlit by divine love.

Each of us is like a wildflower looking toward the camera, which represents those in our lives who are constantly examining us and our actions.  In this situation, when we look at ourselves, we don't see anything special.  And when we gaze in the direction of the world around us, we don't see any evidence of God, the Divine Mystery.  However, when OTHERS look at us through the lens of love, they perceive an amazing thing. Stunned, they see that we are BACKLIT by the Divine Mystery, causing us to glow in all of our ethereal beauty.  From the perspective of the backlit flower, the Sun remains behind it and is therefore invisible. Similarly, we can't see God when we train our inner gaze on anything that we can perceive "in front" of our field of vision.  This is so because God, the Divine Mystery, is more a reality "behind" us that we SINK INTO rather than one who appears in front of our gaze.  However, those who love us can indeed see God when they look at us.  For - unbeknownst to us - we are always and forever backlit by the divine love that dwells on the horizon of Being, and they are amazed.

Photo: Backlit Pasqueflowers proliferate in a meadow burned by one of last summer's fires; Hewlett Gulch, CO; April 26, 2013

I love to imagine the sources of the water flowing through my veins.

I'm enjoying envisioning the various sources of the water that flows through my veins this very minute.  Oceans, mountaintops, alpine streams, mountain marshes filled with wildflowers, rock gorges - all of it.  And then to practice embodying the dignity of those places as I move throughout my day.  I think I would manifest my best self more often if I remembered to do this on a regular basis.

Photo: Wild Currant leafing out next to Horsetooth Falls, roaring with the melt produced by the 28 inches of snow we've had this past 10 days!  Horsetooth Mountain Park, CO; April 26, 2013

The spirit of sunrise causes us to be soft and youthful.

The quality of light at sunrise is wonderfully soft, and richly able to reveal the subtle hues of the landscape.  Similarly, when we approach each moment of our lives as a sort of sunrise, we become soft and youthful rather than hardened and bitter.  This attitude in turn encourages a sense of adventure in us. Like a child, we notice the subtle beauty of each thing and every event.  Thus, we are never tempted to claim: "Oh, I've seen THAT before."

Photo: Dwarf Evening-Primrose and the Courthouse Towers, Arches National Park, UT; April 21, 2013

The redrock canyon country serves as a mirror for spiritual joy.

I find that the redrock canyon country offers me a powerful window into the joy that radiates from my innermost being, and from the spiritual core of all things.

Photo: A Woollybase flower radiates exuberance below Corona Arch near Moab, UT; April 20, 2013

Creation is all one outpour emanation from God.

"Creation is all one outpour emanation from God."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 74

Hiking up Professor Creek in the redrock canyon country near Moab, Utah is an incredible experience.  After walking for about two miles, the canyon slots up, narrowing to about 30 feet wide.  For the next two miles, one walks up the stream as though in a dream, listening to the murmuring of the water resound off the ever-narrowing canyon walls.  The play of light off the cliffs creates seemingly endless variations on the shades of red, orange, mauve and purple.  Finally, a roar becomes detectable, and after rounding a bend, a fifty-foot waterfall comes into view, cascading off the boxed end of the canyon, thus blocking all further progress.  The previous two times I hiked this canyon, the waterfall was single.  This time, however, it was double.  Apparently a flash flood occurring sometime over the past year reconfigured the debris above the falls, changing its character.  In any case, I found myself elated at the play of light, rock hues and water droplets, making the entire setting appear as though it had dropped straight from heaven.

Photo: These falls are on BLM land near Castle Valley, UT; April 21, 2013

Windows and doors in Nature offer us the sense that we are about to enter a new and exciting realm of possibility.

Part of the reason why we are drawn to windows and doors carved in rock, I believe, is because we relish the sense that there is some other reality beckoning to us from the other side.  We love the possibility that we are about to enter a new realm, one that will stimulate our creativity, increase our fulfillment, and make us once again feel fully alive.

Photo: Desert Paintbrush blooming against a backdrop of "The Windows"; Arches National Park, UT; April 19, 2013

If the race had never lived through a winter, what would they think was coming?

"If the race had never lived through a winter, what would they think was coming?"

Henry David Thoreau

We might apply this principle as well to the life-trials we experience.  Indeed, the very word "trial" suggests they are our first encounter with a particular difficulty.  But what if we took a tip from the seasons and realized that the wintertime of our challenges will inevitably lead to Spring?

Photo: Wild Currant leaves are encased in ice as winter has its last gasp.  Highs are forecast to be in the 70s in a few days!  Horsetooth Mountain Park, CO; April 23, 2013

The Spiritual Life Fosters Perpetual Astonishment.

"Rumi says that because the universe is reinvented in every second, . . . real divine life is a perpetual series of astonishments which goes on right until the 'last moment' and beyond."

Andrew Harvey

I feel very grateful for the 28 inches of snow we've received here in northern Colorado over the past ten days.  We went from being in an extreme drought just last week to having nearly 100% of our average snowpack!  Who would have ever guessed this would happen in April!

Photo: Horsetooth Falls and snow-clothed Ponderosa Pines; Horsetooth Mountain Park, CO; April 23, 2013

We are called to radiate divine love even though the Source of our glow seems to have disappeared - trickster-like - beyond the horizon of Being.

Just after sunset on Saturday, I was driving next to the Colorado River after a wonderful hike up to Corona Arch.  As I looked to the west, this vista of alpenglow radiating from cliffs of Navajo Sandstone took my breath away.  It reminded me that each of us is meant to radiate divine love to one another, even though the world around us may seem dark and devoid of meaning.  In fact, we are called to continue shining even though the divine Sun from whom we have acquired our glow has seemingly disappeared - trickster-like - beyond the horizon of Being!

Photo: Navajo Sandstone cliffs near Moab, UT; April 20, 2013

Though finite, we are nevertheless able to reflect the vast and infinite Ground of Being.

While looking for a place to photograph the sunrise, I came upon this sandstone pothole filled with rainwater from the previous day's storm.  Measuring only about three feet long by two feet wide, it nevertheless was able to reflect the massive Courthouse Towers, which tower hundreds of feet above the valley floor.  However, I didn't discover the reflection until I placed my head almost next to the ground.  Isn't it amazing that each of us is somehow able to mirror the infinity of the Divine, even though we may seem small and insignificant?  All that is needed is an attitude of inner stillness and receptivity, and a sustained practice of resting on the Ground of Being.

Photo: Arches National Park, UT; April 21, 2013

Falling in love with the Earth is more effective in motivating life changes than taking a mere moral approach.

I just got back from spending three wonderful days immersed in the beauty of the redrock desert near Moab, Utah.  On one of my hikes, I found these Claret Cup Cactus blooms glowing in all of their backlit splendor just before sunset.  This Earth Day, they remind me that merely having a sense that we "should" take care of the Earth is generally not enough to motivate us to make sustainable life changes.  In other words, a "moral" or "ethical" approach is not sufficient. What we really need is a PASSION for the Earth and its beauty.  That means that we are called to engage in a love affair with more than just another human being.  What we are really called to do is to maintain what Terry Tempest Williams calls "an erotics of place."  As Mattew Fox puts it, “We have to de-anthropocentrize this thing about falling in love, which our culture reduces to soap operas and finding a mate.  We have to realize that we fall in love with creation.”

Photo: Claret Cup Cactus blooming on the Corona Arch Trail near Moab, Utah; April 20, 2013

Nobody sees a flower, really.

“Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time.”

Georgia O'Keeffe

Photo:  A fly pollinates a Pasqueflower in the shadow of Greyrock; Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 6, 2013

Forget not that the winds long to play with your hair.

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."

Kahlil Gibran

Photo: Hair-covered Pasqueflowers growing in a meadow on the Crozier Mountain Trail; Big Thompson Canyon, CO; April 12, 2013

The lower the light of certainty, the more the faculty of imagination is able to become active.

In our search for meaning and truth, we often think we want our lives bathed in the noontime light of certainty. However, we soon discover that when the light is lower in intensity; that is, when uncertainty begins to manifest its all-pervasive presence, then  the evening glow of  imagination and myth is able to become more active.  During these times, the deeper, more subtle  hues of spiritual insight are finally able to reveal themselves in all of their beauty.  As James Hillman so aptly puts it: "Our imaginative recognition animates the world and returns it to Soul."

Photo:  Last light appears on Pasqueflowers; Crozier Mountain Trail, Big Thompson Canyon, CO; April 12, 2013

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Photo: Pasqueflowers blooming in the Hewlett Burn; Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 14, 2013

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

"There is a crack in everything.

That's how the light gets in."

Leonard Cohen

Canadian songwriter and poet

Photo: Pasqueflowers backlit by evening sunlight through a space between the trees; Hewlett Burn, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 14, 2013

God uses what in the temporal world is mere wreckage.

"God is the great companion - the fellow-sufferer who understands . . . He is the ideal companion who transmutes what has been lost into a living fact within his own nature . . . He saves the world as it passes into the immediacy of his own life . . . He uses what in the temporal world is mere wreckage . . . God is the poet of the world, with tender patience leading it by his vision of truth, beauty and goodness."

Alfred North Whitehead

Photo: Pasqueflowers emerge from the ash; Hewlett Burn, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 14, 2013

Our highest calling is to serve as cross-pollinators of the various aspects of wisdom.

I love watching honeybees move from one flower to the next, performing the vital function of cross-pollination while gathering the raw materials to make honey for their own sustenance.  They teach us that our role as human beings is to draw nourishment from the wisdom of the multitude of "flowers" we encounter in our daily lives; i.e., from the various personality types, genders, cultures, philosophies and spiritual traditions - and  from the different elements of the natural world.  In the process, we thereby end up cross-pollinating all of the various aspects of wisdom with one another.

During the first stages of life, it makes sense that we would remain within the same "flower" - seeking the abundance of nourishment that it has to offer - but eventually it begins to dawn on us that we are meant to become explorers of wisdom in ALL of its various manifestations.  Indeed, the unique gift of the human species is precisely our ability to view the cosmos as a giant puzzle into which we assemble all of the various puzzle pieces into a single whole, or perhaps even into several different grand puzzles.  What an adventure!

Photo: A honeybee seeks pollen from Pasqueflowers; Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO; April 8, 2013

The supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive.

"For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive."

D.H. Lawrence

Photo: Pasqueflower blooming beneath Horsetooth Rock; Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO; April 8, 2013

Why do we find blonde and yellow hues so overpoweringly beautiful?

"Only God, my dear,

Could love you for yourself alone,

And not your yellow hair."

William Butler Yeats

Why do we find blonde and yellow hues so overpoweringly beautiful?  Do they speak to us of the radiance of a spiritual dimension that radiates like a halo from ALL ordinary things?

Photo: The Yellow Violets are starting to bloom in the foothills!  Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO; April 13, 2013

Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

"Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open."

The Dalai Lama

Photo:  A Pasqueflower opens to the sun, with Greyrock in the background; Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 6, 2013

The fascination of pasqueflowers.

You might be wondering why Nature Photo-Quotes has featured so many pictures of Pasqueflowers this past several weeks.  First, they are the only major foothills wildflower in bloom, and they will retain that status for several more weeks.  We do have some Spring-Beauties blossoming (which I've also featured), but they are tiny - only a half-inch across - and not as noticeable.  For now, Pasqueflowers are the major source of plant color in a landscape of browns and greys.  However, aside from this fact, I also find Pasqueflowers endlessly fascinating. Depending on the air temperature and the degree of sunlight present, their blossoms take numerous forms.  On cloudy, rainy or snowy days, the flowers are closed and resemble a crocus. During these times, their hue is dark purple. When the sun begins to reappear from behind the clouds, they start to open and look somewhat like tulips, as they do here.  With a bit more sunlight, they open a bit further and resemble an urn.  Fully open on sunny, warm days, they look like a star, and their color changes mostly to white, with the purple fading to lavender.  Another reason why I find Pasqueflowers so fascinating is because of the thick layer of fuzz covering the stems and flowers, especially noticeable because the leaves don't appear until later. This feature is prominent when the plants are backlit, giving them a halo-like glow!

Photo:  Pasqueflowers blooming beneath Greyrock; Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 6, 2013

The world is still a compassionate place.

I guess I must look pretty silly lying on the ground in these burn areas, my jeans caked with black ash,  head just above the charcoal surface.  Almost every foothills trail in our area has been affected by forest fires this past year, so burns are a frequent subject of my photography.  In the process of taking pictures, I've also learned a lot about the compassion of people toward strangers. When they see me lying there on the ground, my body contorted into strange positions,  hikers often come up and ask if I'm hurt.  After all, how many people would willingly choose to lie down in ash?

Photo: A Pasqueflower emerges from last year's ashes, with Greyrock in the background; Hewlett Burn, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 6, 2013

Every object, rightly seen, unlocks a new faculty of the soul.

"Every object, rightly seen, unlocks a new faculty of the soul."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo: Pasqueflower, with Horsetooth Rock in the background; Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO; April 8, 2013

Beginning afresh with a festive attitude from the ash of our disappointments.

When I discovered this Pasqueflower blooming in the ashes of last Spring's Hewlett Burn, it seemed to embody a festive mood, like an inverted two-toned umbrella set up at the beach.  Pasqueflowers were popping up all over the burned meadow, making a stunning sight with their lavender and white hues contrasting vividly with the black of the ash.  What if we humans could be just as festive as we begin building our dreams afresh from within the ash of our disappointments?

Photo: Pasqueflower blooming beneath Greyrock; Hewlett Burn, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 6, 2013

Beauty is found in contrast.

I found this Spring-Beauty flower on the Black Canyon Trail in the Lumpy Ridge area of Rocky Mountain National Park (CO) on April 5th. Like the Pasqueflower, the blossom closes up tightly in the evening, and when rainy or snowy weather arrives. It reopens in the morning, and when a storm is past. I'm always amazed at the contrast that the bright color of these flowers makes with the surrounding brown of the dried grasses.

The hum of bees in a wildflower meadow signifies the infinite expanse of divine love out of which all things emerge.

A wildflower meadow full of bees on a sunny, warm afternoon never fails to make me feel that all is right with the world. I sense in the constant hum the reality of divine love - the blissful OM - that underlies all phenomena and manifests the infinite expanse of joy out of which they all emerge during each moment of our lives.

Photo: A honeybee gathers pollen from a Pasqueflower; Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO; April 8, 2013

We experience immortality in the timelessness of a mountain day.

"Talk of immortality!  After a whole day in the woods, we are already immortal.  Where is the end of such a day? . . . Every sense is satisfied.  For us there is no past, no future.  We live in the present and are full . . . These diverse days are so complete there is no sense of time in them; they have no definite beginning or ending, and form a kind of terrestrial immortality."

The Contemplative John Muir, pp. 205, 206

Photo: Pasqueflowers blooming in front of Horsetooth Rock; Horsetooth Mountain Park, CO; April 8, 2013

If you can't walk, then crawl.

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Photo:  Insect crawling around in newly-blossomed Pasqueflowers, with Greyrock looming in the background; Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 6, 2013

The Spring is the embrace of Earth and Sun

"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: Pasqueflowers springing up beneath the Twin Owls, Lumpy Ridge, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; April 5, 2013

All physical phenomena, when followed up, are found rooted and growing in God.

"All physical phenomena, when followed up, are found rooted and growing in God."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 61

Photo: A Pasqueflower glows in last light, with the Twin Owls looming in the background; Lumpy Ridge, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; April 5, 2013

Behold, I make all things new!

"Behold, I make all things new!"

Revelations 21:5

Hiking yesterday through the south section of the Galena Burn was an amazing experience.  Although the fire occurred just three weeks ago, grass is already springing back throughout the entire valley.  The vast sea of black earth overlain by emerald green grass was stunning to behold.

Photo: Burned Prickly-Pear Cactus with new grass; Galena Burn, Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO; April 4, 2013

As fire refines gold, so suffering refines virtue.

"As fire refines gold, so suffering refines virtue."

Chinese proverb

Fire-roasted yucca plant; Galena Burn, Larimer County, CO; April 4, 2013

In the face of something extraordinary it is not he who is astonished, but rather the thing that is astonishing

"We have learned to differentiate what is subjective and psychic from what is objective and 'natural."  For primitive man, on the contrary, the psychic and the objective coalesce in the external world.  In the face of something extraordinary it is not he who is astonished, but rather the thing that is astonishing."

Carl Jung

Photo: A Spring-Beauty rises out of the ash; Hewlett Burn, Poudre Canyon, CO

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.

"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope."

Martin Luther

Photo: A Mountain Bluebird feather rests on the ashes of the Galena Burn; Larimer County, CO; April 1, 2013

Meditation practice enables us to be amazed at the simplest things.

In the practice of Insight Meditation, we learn to identify ourselves with the vast sky of awareness rather than with the clouds of thoughts and feelings that arise within that sky.  Often we pay attention to our exhalations as an aid to "mixing mind with sky." In the process, we begin to detach ourselves from our ideas, fears and emotions.  However, rather than making us deny these thoughts and feelings, this kind of detachment enables us to be AMAZED at their variety, and to be in awe at the fact that they are able to arise at all - like echoes coming out of nowhere!  Bringing this mindset into everyday life, spacious awareness allows us to become mindful of the simplest things as they arise moment by moment from the vastness, and to find in them a beauty  that was not perceptible before.

Photo:  Prickly-Pear cactus roasted by a forest fire; Galena Burn, Larimer County, CO; April 1, 2013

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

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

Aldo Leopold

Photo: Pasqueflowers blooming in Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO; March 30, 2013

Fire is needed to reveal the gold.

The flames of a forest fire bring a delightful gold color to some plant species, just as a metalsmith's fire is often used in refining and purifying gold.

Photo: Prickly-pear Cactus; Galena Burn, Larimer County, CO, April 1, 2013

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

"Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
and sings the tune without words
and never stops at all."

Emily Dickinson

Photo: Mountain Bluebird perched on a fencepost in the Galena Burn; Larimer County, CO; April 1, 2013

During times of stress, we need to turn within.

Yesterday, I discovered this group of Pasqueflowers with their petals wide open to the sun. However, several hours later it rained, and when I went by again, the flowers were now closed.

Like the Pasqueflower, it is important for us to turn inward and be nourished by our spiritual core - rooted in God - during times of stress. Only in this way will we find the strength to face life's challenges from a place of depth and spaciousness, a realm of our being which goes deeper and broader than the level on which our problems occur.

Photo: Pasqueflowers, Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO; March 30, 2013