I declare, this world is so beautiful, that I can hardly believe it exists!

"I declare this world is so beautiful, that I can hardly believe it exists!"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel, pond, and the Snowy Range, WY; June 29, 2013

One of the properties of the compound called "man" is that when exposed to the rays of mountain beauty, it glows with JOY

"I think that one of the properties of that compound which we call 'man' is that when exposed to the rays of mountain beauty, it glows with JOY."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Snow Lilies, Snowy Range, WY; June 29, 2013

Beauty is God

"Oh, the infinite abundance and universality of Beauty.  Beauty is God - what shall we say of God that we may not say of Beauty?"

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Columbine and reflections on Bluebird Lake, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park; June 27, 2013

Life is filled with simple joys.

"Joys come from simple and natural things, mists over meadows, sunlight on leaves, the path of the moon over water.  Even rain and wind and stormy clouds bring joy, just as knowing animals and flowers and where they live.  Such things are where you find them, and belong to the aware and alive."

Sigurd F. Olson

Surrounded by such simple joys, we have a tendency in our society to become addicted to a consumer mentality.  Our culture habitually acts as though happiness comes mainly from the things we buy.  Why do you suppose that is?

Photo: Snow Buttercups, Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; June 27, 2013

Flowers tell a deep summer joy.

"Birds, insects, and flowers - all in their own way tell a deep summer joy."

The Contemplative John Muir

Yesterday I discovered this Snow Buttercup blooming right out of a snowbank. It's amazing to me how much in a hurry alpine plant species like this buttercup are to begin their life cycle each season, almost as though they are filled with exuberance and joy at the prospect of being alive.

Photo: Snow Buttercup, Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; June 27, 2013

A moose running to the top of a mountain?

Today my brother-in-law and I left the sweltering plains and hiked up to 11,000 feet.  As we sat on the tundra eating our lunch, a cow moose came out of the woods below and ran up to the top of the mountain.  Judging by the way she was shaking her head and ears, we guessed she was trying to get away from the
bugs and out into the welcome breezes.

Photo: Moose above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; June 27, 2013


Photo: Moose above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; June 27, 2013

Nature is drenched with spiritual life!

"Nature like a fluid seems to drench and steep us throughout, as the whole sky and the rocks and flowers are drenched with spiritual life - with God."

The Contemplative John Muir

When I arrived at Lion Lakes on my hike last week, I was amazed to see how many Alpine Bog Laurel blooms there are this year.  Exploring these marshy meadows entailed getting my feet wet, but it was well worth it.  Whenever I encounter huge swaths of wildflowers like this, I think of the utter exuberance of life.  Notice the stream in the middleground, creating these blooming bogs.

Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel with Mount Alice as a backdrop; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013

A major goal of true spirituality is an ability to experience the awe and wonder of the world and continually to grow in amazement.

A major goal of true spirituality is an ability to experience the awe and wonder of the world and continually to grow in that amazement.  Meditation practice, as many seekers have discovered, can be quite helpful in fostering this attitude.  Rather than seeking God as some sort of object, meditation teaches us to embody God's vision; that is, to look at the world through the eyes of wide-open, expansive love.  When we approach the world from the perspective of the spacious mind of God, we are then able to marvel as an endless variety of thoughts, feelings and sensations arise spontaneously out of that spaciousness, like echoes having no original sound as their source!  For the source of those echoing love-words is a God who is forever lost in bliss on account of the intense beauty of the world.

Photo: Male cones of an Englemann Spruce; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013

Mountain beauty forms a large part of the human soul.

"I love the glorious host of mountain forms, whose beauty forms so great a part of a terrestrial human soul."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel and Lion Lakes at sunset; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013

Christ had a transparent self, not a billiard-ball self when he spoke the words: "I am THE way."

Last week in my discussion with an evangelical Christian friend, we were talking about the fact that conservatives (like himself) emphasize an either/or life-stance, while liberals (like myself) tend to be both/and. Every person is of course a combination of those two perspectives, but we each have a tendency to lean toward one or the other. Then he brought up the verse in the Gospel of John where Jesus is seen exclaiming: "I am THE way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." My friend asked how I could still hold a both/and perspective when the whole tenor of that verse tends to narrow things down quite a bit.

In my response, I noted that it is important to ask: "Who exactly is the 'I' that is speaking in that verse?" Generally, we tend to think of the 'I' - that is, our sense of self - as a sort of self-enclosed billiard ball that has sharp boundaries and which travels through life bouncing off every other billard-ball self, causing us and others a whole lot of suffering. Often, our experience of that sort of self is tight and leaden, and - when carried to the extreme - makes us feel quite claustraphobic. The term that spiritual traditions use for this common experience of human identity is the "ego-self."

By contrast, all genuine spiritual paths seek to make the self translucent, and even transparent to the selves of all of the other creatures inhabiting the planet. In other words, they seek a more relational, all-inclusive view of self. This model of self can be seen in the "body of Christ" image, where one person is like a hand, another is like a foot, another is an eye, another is a beautiful head of hair, and so on. Here, the self is viewed as part of a larger whole, and each part understands its innate need for every other part. Similarly, Buddhists speak of the self as a part of the "Net of Indra," where every being is viewed as a node in a vast fisherman's net, and where each of these nodes contains a mirror-like jewel that reflects the jewel present in every other node composing this vast net.

The point is that Jesus, as a transformed, divinely human person, possessed a self that was transparent to the light coming from every other genuine self on the planet. In other words, it was not a solid, contricted, leaden, billiard-ball ego-self that spoke the words "I am the way." Instead, it was the expansive, transparent, all-inclusive state of consciousness that indwelt him which spoke these words, a state that indwells every other transformed being as well.

Often, when I give a response such as this, the other person will exclaim: "Wow, your view seems so COMPLICATED! I prefer a much simpler view of things!" However, I would point out that a translucent view of self is no more complicated than a billiard-ball view of self. It's just that the evangelical's billiard-ball view of self is generally unconscious and unexamined, making it seem "simpler." In other words, they aren't even aware that they are approaching life from such a view. In reality, it is actually much simpler - and much more conducive to a harmonious, peaceful life-experience - to see life from an expansive Body-of-Christ or Net-or-Indra view of self rather than from that of the constricted billiard-ball self that is so much a part of our everyday experience of conflict!

Photo: Snow-lily backlit by late-day sun, with Mount Alice in the background; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013

Seeing Mother Earth as the second Person of the Holy Trinity

It is said that Tawa the Sun God and Spider Woman the Earth Goddess created all life. During creation, Tawa sang: “I am Tawa. I am Light. I am Life. I am the Father of all that shall ever come.” As Spider Woman shaped the thought of each creature into clay figures, Tawa bent his glowing eyes upon them and they came to life.

From a Hopi creation story

What would our spiritual lives be like if we viewed Mother Earth - the Goddess, Sophianic Wisdom - as the second Person of the Holy Trinity? Here, the third Person - the Holy Spirit / Holy Soul - would serve as the oneness or union of the Father's beyondness and the Mother's immanence. Would we take better care of the Earth if we viewed the spiritual Presence animating her not as an artifact made by the transcendent Father but as an equal partner in creation? After all, that is precisely how each of us was born into this world.

Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel blooming at Lion Lakes; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013

Is it legitimate to "worship the Earth"?

Several days ago, an evangelical Christian asked me if I "worship the Earth."  The implication was that if I did, that would be a clear instance of "worshiping the creation instead of the Creator" and would thus be a case of practicing idolatry.  My short answer is this:

In some Christian quarters, Christ is viewed as an embodiment of Sophia, the feminine aspect of the Godhead.  Even though individual creatures - plants, animals, mountains and clouds, for example - might be viewed as created, the feminine presence of Sophia Wisdom which underlies their material and emotional substance has a divine essence.  We might also call this sophianic presence "Mother Earth" or the "Goddess."  In any case, it is connected to the feminine aspect of Christ.  I am assuming that since evangelicals have no qualms about worshiping Christ, they would also have no issue with worshiping a Christic sophianic presence that indwells all of creation, tying it all together as a single "body of Christ" or "Mother Earth" or "web of life."

Second, my experience is that God himself - the transcendent aspect of the Godhead - worships and adores the Earth.  Here I appeal to the Song of Songs, which was considered by medieval monks to be the most spiritual book of the Bible.  This book consists of a series of love poems spoken between two lovers: one masculine and one feminine. These two have traditionally been viewed as corresponding to God and the individual soul.  In that book, the masculine lover (symbolizing God) is presented as continually adoring the feminine lover (symbolizing the soul and the Earth to which the soul is connected), even more intensely than the feminine lover is seen adoring the masculine lover.

Thus, employing the metaphor, we see God exclaiming to the soul: "How beautiful you are, my darling!  Oh how beautiful! . . . There is no flaw in you . . . You have stolen my heart, . . . you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace . . . Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me!"  The song proceeds to describe the feminine lover in terms of all kinds of sensate beings, including plants, spices, and animals, thus revealing the fact that the sophianic presence dwelling in the Earth is included in this praise as well.

My point is that we, as mediators of God's love to the world around us, are ALSO meant to praise and adore the Earth, just as God does.  For only in this way will all creatures be awakened to the divinity which lies within them.

Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel with Mount Alice in the background; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013

The Fern Lake Burn is recovering!

A few days ago I found this stump charred during the Fern Lake Fire last October, surrounded by Golden Banner flowers.  I've noticed that the park visitors this spring and summer have really enjoyed exploring the burn and marveling at the signs of recovery that are already present.

Photo: Juniper snag, Rocky Mountain National Park, June 17, 2013

The tendency nowadays to wander in wildernesses is delightful to see.

"The tendency nowadays to wander in wildernesses is delightful to see.  Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.  Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own little ongoings with those of Nature, and to get rid of rust and disease.  Briskly venturing and roaming, some are washing off sins and cobweb cares of the devil's spinning in all-day storms on mountains; sauntering in rosiny pinewoods or in gentian meadows, . . . getting in touch with the nerves of Mother Earth; jumping from rock to rock, feeling the life of them, learning the songs of them, panting in whole-souled exercise, and rejoicing in deep, long-drawn breaths of pure wildness."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Golden Banner and White Locoweed blooming in Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013.  This entire meadow burned in last October's Fern Lake Fire, and look at it now!  Filled with wildflowers and emerald-green grass!  Muir wrote this passage in "Our National Parks" in 1901.

The holy sublimities of the mountains can shoot themselves into the dullest living human carcass.

"The holy sublimities of the mountains can shoot themselves into the dullest living human carcass through all the snarl of miseducation and mispropriety."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Sunset, Lupines and Arthur's Rock; Lory State Park, CO; June 22, 2013

Few in these hot, dim, frictiony times are quite sane or free . . .

"Few in these hot, dim, frictiony times are quite sane or free; choked with care like clocks full of dust, laboriously doing so much good and making so much money - or so little - they are no longer good for themselves . . . Take a course of good water and air, and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own.  Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Yucca and sandstone cliffs in last light, Lory State Park, CO; June 23, 2013

The alpenglow is so holy, spiritual . . .

"The alpenglow is so holy, spiritual; even the inspired atmosphere of the New Jerusalem is inadequate."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Alpenglow, Skinny Fish Lake, Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 15, 2013

Trees all are our brothers and they enjoy life as we do.

"Trees all are our brothers and they enjoy life as we do, share Heaven's blessings with us, die and are buried in hallowed ground, come with us out of eternity and return to eternity."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Aspen trunks, Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 16, 2013

We need to slow down before Nature will disclose any of her secrets to us.

"Nature will not be likely to disclose any of her secrets to those who are in haste. We must labor and wait and watch, loiter and saunter and be obedient to every attraction she has to offer."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Spotted Coral-Root Orchid, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013. These flowers are only about a half-inch across.

Climbing the mountain passes sets us free.

"Fear not to try the mountain-passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: View from Ripple Creek Pass, Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 16, 2013

God has created each person’s soul as a living mirror

“God has created each person’s soul as a living mirror, on which he has impressed the image of his nature.  In this way, he lives imaged forth in us and we in him . . . This mirror remains constantly before the face of God and therefore participates in the eternity of the image which it has received.  In this image God knew us in himself before we were created.”

John Ruusbroec,
14th century Belgian mystic

Photo: Peaks above Skinny Fish Lake, Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 15, 2013

To be spiritual means to allow the tight ego-self to become suddenly translucent to spacious Divine Love!

The ego-self consists in our tendency to constrict and turn in on our own pain, suffering, desire and self-interest.  It has a very "leaden," heavy feel, and can seem claustraphobic.  However, the goal of the spiritual life is not to get rid of the ego, but to suddenly be able to SEE THROUGH it to the spacious divine Reality lying beyond and within it.  In other words, the ego-self become translucent!  An example of this reality would be the process of feeling tight and alone in our unfulfilled desire, and then suddenly awakening to see that our desire for fulfillment is actually translucent to the desire of Divine Fulfillment for us!

Since the goal of the cosmos seems to be wonder and surprise, we might say that the Ultimate Mystery - present within us - takes great delight in seeing our tight, claustraphobic ego-self suddenly become translucent to spacious love.  Indeed, we (and God) could never appreciate the beauty of spacious awareness and love unless we first experienced egoic tightness, and then watch as it magically becomes translucent to the Beyond!

Photo: Globeflowers at Skinny Fish Lake; Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 15, 2013

Forest Fire Light on Aspens

While I was headed up to the Flattops for a backpacking trip this past weekend, a new forest fire broke out - near Rifle.  As the sun was setting, the thick forest fire haze  painted the aspens trunks a deep orange.  I was amazed at how beautiful they were!

Photo: Aspens, Gore Pass, CO; June 14, 2013

Preservation efforts are motivated by a love affair with Nature's beauty.

If we want to help preserve the natural world, we must first fall in love with the Earth, her landscapes and creatures.  My aim is to assist in this love affair by sharing some of the beauty I've found and the joy it elicits.

Photo: Calypso Orchid at Copeland Falls; Calypso Cascades Trail, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013

In solitude, I discover my true self when I am mirrored by the sky-like presence of God.

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In solitude, freed from society's distorted ideas of who I am and what I should be, I am at last open to the vastness of the Divine mirror.  There, I discover that I am not restricted to my individual ego-self, with all of its worries, obsessions and narcissistic thoughts.  Instead, I am one with the sky-like backdrop of Divine Love, free at last to serve as a spacious mirror for others, enabling them to see their own vast and true sacred self.

Photo: Elk and Long's Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013

Contrast is needed for a thing to reveal itself.

"All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Photo: Marsh-marigold and McGinnis Lake, Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 15, 2013

The Earth laughs in flowers.

"The Earth laughs in flowers."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I started on this hike early Sunday morning, the clouds were building.  When I reached this spot, the sun briefly came out for about ten minutes, allowing me to snap a few shots.  Then, thunder arrived, the sky clouded up, and it started raining hard.

Photo: Western Red Columbines at Shamrock Pool; Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 16, 2013

Alpenglow is the most impressive of all the terrestrial manifestations of God.

"Alpenglow is the most impressive of all the terrestrial manifestations of God and suggests the spiritual Love-light in which the flesh-walls of earthy tabernacles are dissolved and everything puts on immortality."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Alpenglow on Skinny Fish Lake, Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 15, 2014

The vast wilderness spaces of the West have served a fathering role for me.

The wide-open spaces of the West have served a fathering role for me, especially since my early 20s.  They have taught me that my Source as a man is in another world.  Like Jesus, the masculine element present in both men and women can say; "I am not of this world."  For me, this means that the frenetic, competitive, herd-like qualities of society are not my true home.  I belong instead to the vastness of wilderness spaces, to the silence that reigned for billions of years before human beings inhabited the planet.  But my home is especially in the spacious and loving awareness of the Great Mystery - the One whom we call "God" -  a vast state of consciousness that any of us can access during contemplative meditation.  This vastness lies beyond the world of phenomena, yet it serves as the backdrop out of which all thoughts, feelings and events arise.  It is this vastness that has fathered me in a spiritual sense. When I unite with it, then I too can serve as father to those around me, bringing a sense of transcendence, stability and space to a claustraphobic society turned in on its own shallowness, obsessive self-importance, fear and anxiety.

Photo: Yucca, Pawnee Buttes, and a vast sky; Pawnee National Grassland, Weld County, CO; June 10, 2013

Men need the spacious peace of Father Sky.

“Father Sky is an ancient archetype for naming the Sacred Masculine or the Divine Masculine.  It is found among indigenous peoples, such as Indians of South America, who have a saying: ‘To be human one must make room in one’s heart for the wonders of the universe’ . . . But the modern era (from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries) shut down Father Sky – indeed, it rendered the term practically meaningless.  This left the male heart bereft and potentially more violent, for men had no place to invest their sky-sized hearts and souls . . . What happens when cosmology is replaced by psychology?  When cosmic connections are displaced by shopping malls?  The heart shrivels.  Men’s souls shrink.”

Matthew Fox

Photo: Pawnee Buttes just after sunset; Weld County, CO; June 10, 2013

Go climb a mountain. Cool your head in the sky . . .

"Go climb a mountain. Cool your head in the sky and then you will be calmer and see better your own and the world's woes and how to help cure them . . ."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Lookout Lake, Snowy Range, WY; June 7, 2013

Our longing for God is a participation in God's longing for us.

"A man was crying 'Allah! Allah!' one night.  When a cynic asked if he had ever gotten a response, the man couldn't answer.  Confused, he fell into a depressed sleep.  In a dream, Khidr, the guide of souls, appeared to him within some foliage.  Khidr asked him, 'Why did you stop praising?'  The man answered, 'Because I've never heard anything back!'  Then Khidr enlightened him with these words: 'This longing you express IS the return message.  The grief you cry out from draws you toward union.' "

Jelaluddin Rumi

"Staggering though it is, what I experience as my longing for God is God's longing for me."

Brother David Steindl-Rast,
Benedictine monk

Photo: Shrubby Evening-Primrose arising out of cracked, dry, hard badlands soil; Pawnee Buttes, Weld County, CO; June 10, 2013

When a person seems prickly, it is helpful to remember that they are protecting a beauty which is innately vulnerable.

People often don't like it when they come up against the boundaries we set to protect our space and spiritual vision.  During such times, we can seem overly prickly.  For those of us who are obsessive about seeking harmony with others, it is easy to feel guilt when we erect those boundaries.  But it is important to remember that when we become prickly, we are simply guarding a thing that is vulnerable and beautiful. It is helpful to realize as well that vulnerability and beauty always go together. Beauty is like a fireworks display, simultaneously dissipating in the very moment that it expresses itself in all of its glory.  Similarly, when we come up against the prickly defenses of others, it is important that we look past the defenses and search for the vulnerable beauty they are protecting. After all, they are just like us!

Photo: Ball Cactus and Pawnee Buttes; Weld County, CO; June 10, 2013

Speaking confidently about our vulnerabilities actually is a form of strength.

I came across this Horned Toad Lizard yesterday while hiking out at Pawnee Buttes. This lizard is able to squirt an aimed stream of blood from the corners of its eyes for a distance of up to five feet.  It does this by restricting the blood flow leaving the head, thereby increasing blood pressure and rupturing tiny vessels around the eyelids. This not only confuses predators, but also lets canine and feline predators (like coyotes and bobcats) know that its blood tastes foul. This defense, however, appears to have no effect against predatory birds.

The Horned Lizard's defense mechanism can teach us some powerful lessons.  Generally, we tend to think that when blood - our physical life-force - is brought to the surface, we are at our most vulnerable.  In other words, exposed blood symbolizes vulnerability.  However, when we consciously aim a self-conscious awareness of our vulnerabilities at those who might enjoy criticizing us, this act serves to de-fang them.  What insult can they give us if we ALREADY are aware of our weaknesses?

I'm thinking here not of self-castigation, but of confidently speaking the truth about ourselves.  This is true especially of personality typology, where we are aware that we manifest the traits of a whole category of people.  For example, if I admit to others that my extreme sensitivity to the beauty of life simultaneously makes me ultra-sensitive to criticism, and that although I wish this wasn't the case, it seems to be a common trait of the artist-type - what can people say?  "Oh, you're too sensitive!"  then loses its sting, for I've already made the person aware that positive and negative traits apparently always appear together!

Photo: Horned Toad Lizard, Pawnee Buttes, Weld County, CO; June 10, 2013

Within National Parks is room in which to find ourselves.

"Within National Parks is room - glorious room - room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve."

Eno Mills,
founder, Rocky Mountain National Park

Photo: Marsh-Marigold, Finch Lake and Copland Peak, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 8, 2013

"Enthusiasm" means being "in God."

The word "enthusiasm" is derived from a Greek word meaning "possessed by a god," or "having the god within."  Literally, it means "in god" (en-theos).  Later, in 17th and 18 century England, the word took on a derogatory meaning.  If a person was an "enthusiast," it meant that they entrusted themselves to personal divine revelation, a stance viewed with mistrust by an institutional church fixated on hierarchies of priests and ministers.  For example, Johnson's Dictionary of 1755 defined enthusiasm as "a vain belief of private revelation; a vain confidence of divine favor or communication."  Some enthusiasts manifested outlandish displays of religious emotion, and - as is so often the case - ANY group believing in personal divine revelation (e.g., the Quakers) was then viewed with suspicion.  Later on, the word came to refer to excitement for any interest or cause, thus losing its original grounding in spiritual reality. Here we see that the word history of enthusiasm has followed the general societal trend toward detaching the individual self from its grounding in a deeper divine reality.  However, if we return to the original meaning of the word, we can once again realize that enthusiasm is the experience of being penetrated by DIVINE joy.  Indeed, that is our deepest calling as human beings - to be the means by which God and the Universe experience joy in the world.

Photo: Indian Paintbrush, Vedauwoo Recreation Area, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY; June 7, 2013

Our age needs a more balanced perspective that grounds all individual selves in a deeper Divine reality.

One of the pitfalls of our era is the tendency to regard only the individual self - and collections of individual selves - as ultimately real. This belief corresponds to a profound disconnection from any divine reality that is deeper, vaster, or broader - a ground of being or open sky of awareness or vast lake of love or infinite web of life that is the ultimate reason for our existence here on Earth.  This reality may take the form of God or Goddess or Consciousness or Love or Bliss, or any of the other innumerable ways of envisioning it.  But it is precisely the reality of this spiritual Ultimate that is being denied.  Philosophy calls this position "nominalism," the belief that universals  - like God or Goddess or Divinity or Consciousness - exist in "name" only and thus have no true reality.  In a nominalistic view, only individuals exist. Here, for example, meditation or yoga become simply an experience of "me and my mind," or "me and my body," with no real tie to a divine Self to which all individual selves are ultimately transparent. I find that Nature, however, is amazingly effective in keeping a person in touch with this Ultimate Reality.  Perhaps as increasing numbers of people spend time in the Great Outdoors, we as a society will one day return to a more balanced perspective that grounds all of the particulars of life in a deep Lake of divinity.

Photo: Lookout Lake, Snowy Range, WY; June 7, 2013

Would you not be thoroughly ICED?

"Ice is only another form of terrestrial love . . . Would that I could have you here! . . . Would you not be thoroughly ICED?  You would not find in me one unglacial thought."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Ice thawing on Lookout Lake; Snowy Range, WY; June 7, 2013.  On my snowshoe hike, I saw one trout swimming around in the thin layer of turquoise water!

June 9th, 2012

A year ago today, I was backpacking high in the Flattops Wilderness, about 100 miles - as the crow flies - from my home.  That afternoon, as I climbed up onto a 12,000 foot ridge, I noticed that the sky was perfectly clear.  However, as I glanced to the northeast, I noticed one HUGE cumulus cloud.  But as I took a second look, I realized it was not a cloud at all; it was a huge plume of forest fire smoke!  The next day, on my drive home, I finally came into an area that had cell phone service.  There, I called my wife to tell her I was on my way home.  "You're not going to be able to return using the normal route," she advised.  "We have a huge forest fire going on right now.  The whole town is filled with smoke.  When I go out the front door, the entire ridge two miles to the west is all aflame!"

That day - June 9th - the High Park Fire began when lightning struck a tree in a mountainous area 45 minutes from our house.  It grew to 87,250 acres and ended up destroying 259 homes.  It was the second largest fire in Colorado's recorded history, and set a record for destroying the most homes. (Exactly two weeks later, the Waldo Canyon Fire began near Colorado Springs.  It quickly broke High Park Fire's record when 346 homes were destroyed).

I've spent the past year recording the beauty that resulted from that tragic fire.  I hope you've enjoyed the photos! This summer, we here in northeast Colorado are having a lush spring.  The rest of the state, however, is enduring extreme drought conditions.  It appears that will become an ever more frequent reality all across the West.

Photo: Plume from the High Park Fire, viewed from the Chinese Wall in the Flattops Wilderness (CO) on June 9, 2012

Paying attention to the trickster aspect of Life

Over the past three weeks, there have been THREE times when a raven or crow entered the frame just as I was taking a picture.  Twice in the desert (ravens) and once in the mountains (a crow).  For me, ravens and crows represent intelligence and the humorous or trickster aspect of life.  I'm aware that I definitely need to remember the trickster aspect of Life when things don't go the way I've planned!

Photo: Raven, a wedged log, and sunset at Peekaboo Canyon; Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, UT; May 25, 2013

The artist is a miracle worker.

"What is the artist?  He is a miracle worker: makes the blind to see, the insentient to feel, the dead to live."

Edward Abbey

Photo: Prickly-pear Cactus blooms backlit at sunset; Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, UT; May 25, 2013

A yearning for something lost, remote, past, future, forever out of reach.

"Not suicide but - TO VANISH.  Disappear.  Fade off into the wilderness, never return - apparently I'll never outlive this romanticism.  Forty-one years of searching . . .The heartsick yearning for something lost, remote, past, future, forever out of reach.  An absolute love for something absolute."

Edward Abbey

Photo: Pictograph from 5,000 B.C.E. ; The Great Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, UT; May 24, 2013

Now the Mother Earth and the Father Sky are meeting and joining one another.

"Now the Mother Earth

And the Father Sky

Meeting, joining one another;

Helpmates ever, they"

Sharon Burch,

Navajo songwriter

Photo: Golden Banner flowers, Arthur's Rock, and a beautiful sky; Lory State Park, CO; June 6, 2013.  As soon as I woke up this morning, I looked out the window and saw these amazing clouds.  I quickly got dressed and rushed up to Lory State Park to capture the flowers, Arthur's Rock, and the clouds.  There were so many birds singing, it seemed like I was in the tropics!

In the Southwest, something never dreamed of, I have found, or it has found me.

"In the strange, mystic, unknown Southwest, . . . something never dreamed of, I have found, or it has found me."

Edward Abbey

Photo: Desert Varnish, Coyote Gulch, UT; May 26, 2013

Are we not rich when our six-foot column of substance sponges up heaven above and earth beneath into its pores?

" 'Tis most enabling to find and feel that we are constructed with reference to these noble storms, so as to draw unspeakable enjoyment from them. Are we not rich when our six-foot column of substance sponges up heaven above and earth beneath into its pores? Aye, we have chambers in us the right shape for earthquakes. Churches and the schools lisp limpingly, painfully, of man's capabilities, possibilities, and fussy developing nostrums of duties, but if the human flock, together with their Rev.'s and double L-D [Doctor of Laws] shepherds would go wild themselves, they would discover . . . that the whole contents of a human soul is the whole world."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 135

Photo: Rainstorm in Wild Basin over Mount Alice; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 3, 2013. A "nostrum" is an ineffective medicine or a supposed cure-all.

Beauty is the harmony of contrasts.

Beauty is the harmony of contrasts.

Photo: Aspen trees beginning to leaf out, with the peaks of Wild Basin in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 3, 2013

The quotes on this page are meant to serve as a multitude of different windows, each revealing a unique aspect of Ultimate Reality

In our age of competing fundamentalisms, I believe it is important to view every religious statement as a window through to a Reality that lies beyond it.  Accordingly, no teaching should be taken literally.  As the Zen tradition says, every spiritual image or truth is simply a finger pointing to the moon, or a menu that we are invited to use to order a meal which lies beyond it.

Applied to the quotes that populate this page, this means that every statement is intended be viewed non-literalistically, as a suggestion that allows the reader to begin looking in a particular direction.  Thus, for example, if an Edward Abbey quote implies that there is no personal immortality, I'm not necessarily encouraging the reader to take this literally.  It means rather that when we begin focusing on the wonder of the world, we cease worrying so much about our own personal survival as an individual beyond the grave.  We seek instead to become a vehicle through which the Universe knows its own goodness and beauty.  This does not necessarily mean, however, that this larger seeing precludes the possibility of personal immortality.

Or, if you come across a quote by Lakota elder Albert White Hat, who says that the Creator is named Inyan, and that he created the world by giving his own blood, this does not mean that I - or anyone who appreciates his insight - is a wannabe Indian.  Rather, it means we resonate with the profound insight lying behind this story, one that sees creation as the result of divine self-emptying.

Similarly, if this page quotes a Buddhist who says that spacious awareness is a non-personal reality, this does not mean that the reader is being discouraged from considering Ultimate Reality to contain a personal element.  Rather, it means that God's personhood has an ecstatic, self-emptying quality that is much vaster and more profound than our usual limited views of what a person is.  Accordingly, this kind of God is able to be a "Presence" that goes beyond the bounds of existence as a particular "being."

This kind of approach means that the various quotes contained on this page may at times seem contradictory.  Thus, we are invited first to look at Reality from one angle, and then from another, and then from yet another. Each of these angles may seem to compete with all of the others. But this is as it should be.  For it is as though each quote forms a different puzzle piece - varied and unlike any other - which contributes its own richness and uniqueness to the common Whole. Each is a different set of colored glasses, revealing the world in a whole new light.  What an adventure the spiritual journey is!  Here, life consists not in trying to make everyone wear the same pair of glasses, but in trying on a multitude of different colored lenses, discovering in the process the unique qualities that each set reveals.  How amazing!

Photo: Jacob Hamblin Arch, Coyote Gulch, UT; May 26, 2013

The Orientals have the spirit merge with the world, not buzz over it forever like a bored and boring fly.

"The traditional Western bawling after immortality - what is the meaning of it?  Why the insane desire to perpetuate through and beyond all time the identity of the person and the personal consciousness?  The Orientals know better - they have the spirit MERGE WITH the world, not buzz over it forever like a bored and boring fly."

Edward Abbey

Photo:  Desert Paintbrush and desert-varnished canyon wall; Coyote Gulch, UT; May 26, 2013