"Tell me what you will of the benefactions of city civilization, of the sweet security of streets . . . But I know that our bodies were made to thrive only in pure air, and the scenes in which pure air is found . . . Go now and then to the wilds for fresh life - if most of humanity must go through this town stage of development - just as divers hold their breath and come ever and anon to the surface to breathe . . . Go, whether or not you have faith . . . Once [during my childhood on the farm in Wisconsin] I was let down into a deep well in which choke-damp [carbonic acid] had settled, and nearly lost my life. The deeper I was immersed in the invisible poison, the less capable I became of wiling measures to escape from it. And in just this condition are those who toil or dawdle or dissipate in crowded towns, in the sinks of commerce or pleasure."
The Contemplative John Muir
Photo: A flower in the Sunflower Family; Lory State Park, CO; May 28, 2013
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