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.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Each of us finds our true self only in being positively-mirrored by an Other.


Each of us finds our identity only in being mirrored by others.  It is for this reason that the practice of love is so important, for it provides a positive looking-glass which puts us in touch with our own true self and helps undo the damage done by negative mirroring.  Of course, human beings - including we ourselves - cannot serve as the ULTIMATE mirror.  We are often preoccupied with our own concerns and therefore fail to see the harm we are doing to others through inattention and negative mirroring.  It is for this reason that so many of us eventually embark on a spiritual journey which leads us to a DIVINE mirror that is not  fickle like we humans are.  In my own life, Nature provides a major aspect of this Divine mirror, enabling me to let go of the tight, constricted ego-self I so often embody and identify instead with the spaciousness of the True Self.

Photo: Sea Stack and sand patterns; Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park, WA; July 27, 2013







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