Welcome! I am a contemplative thinker and photographer from Colorado. In this blog, you'll discover photographs that I've taken on my hiking and backpacking trips, mostly in the American West. I've paired these with my favorite inspirational and philosophical quotes - literary passages that emphasize the innate spirituality of the natural world. I hope you enjoy them!

If you'd like to purchase photo-quote greeting cards, please go to www.NaturePhoto-QuoteCards.com .


In the Spirit of Wildness,

Stephen Hatch
Fort Collins, Colorado

P.S. There's a label index at the bottom of the blog.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

It's important to ask WHY a particular spiritual practice is always done a certain way.



"Once I heard a young boy ask an older friend of his why a certain [spiritual] practice was done a particular way, and the older one said, 'Because that's the tradition.'  That statement really struck me, and I wondered why - why is it tradition?  If you don't know the history behind a practice, then the living meaning is lost, and it becomes an empty tradition.  There's no feeling or connection except to the form, and it continues only because it's the way it's always been done.  It's important to ask WHY a practice or ritual is done, why it's a tradition, and then to go further and learn how it came to be."

Albert White Hat, Sr.
Lakota chief

Photo: Ponderosa Pine and Bear Lodge, Devil's Tower National Monument, WY; May 18, 2013.  Bear Lodge (Devil's Tower) is the site of many ceremonies.





No comments:

Post a Comment