Delicious Autumn!

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

George Eliot   

Photo:  Changing aspen leaves, with Flattop Mountain as a backdrop; Flattops Wilderness, CO; September 29, 2013

"Moab Man"

Whenever I see this "Moab Man" petroglyph carved by the Fremont People (700-1300 A.D.), I feel a sense of buoyant optimism.  What do you feel when you contemplate this image?

Photo: "Moab Man," Moab, UT; September 28, 2013

In a society based on distraction, imagination allows us to glow in the light of faith, hope and love.

Because people these days are distracted by innumerable plans, projects, news events and advertising campaigns, it is easy to feel invisible. How can a contemplative person - one who believes in silently RADIATING admirable qualities rather than adding to the noise by merely talking about them - even have a chance of being noticed? More and more, I find myself IMAGINING that people are excited about the things I have to give, a creative attitude which may seem disappointing at first, yet one that allows me to glow in the radiance of divine faith, hope and love. Ironically, perhaps imagination is actually more "real" than a society that insists on engaging, as we used to say, in an incessant "rat race."

Photo: Foxglove flowers at sunset, Quileute Reservation, La Push, Washington; July 26, 2013

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We go to the woods to clean out our thoughts of all institutions.

"How rarely I meet with a person who can be free, even in thought!  We live according to rule.  Some people are bedridden; all, world-ridden.  I take my neighbor, an intellectual man, out into the woods and invite him to take a new and absolute view of things, to empty clean out his thoughts of all institutions of men and start again; but he can't do it, he sticks to his traditions and his crotchets.  He thinks that governments, colleges, newspapers, etc., are from everlasting to everlasting."

Henry David Thoreau, 1857

Photo: Sword Ferns, Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park, WA; July 26, 2013

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God tends his mountains and feeds them with light, feeds them like a flock. Strange we regard them as dead.

"Sunset purple, thick and rich, is a baptism for a thousand mountains.  Calm and hushed, they stand to receive the glorious blessing, to receive their bread.  Peaks and spires, domes and crusts appear united in this light, which was bestowed with infinite tenderness.  God tends his mountains and feeds them with light, feeds them like a flock.  Strange we regard them as dead."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Mount Shuksan radiating evening alpenglow; Mount Baker Wilderness, WA; July 23, 2013

In meditation, the sound of the mind is like the sea breaking on a far off reef, lulling us into extreme calm.

                        In meditation it is possible to dive –
       deeper and deeper into the mind
to a place where there is no disturbance
and there is absolute solitude.
It is at this point in the profound stillness
that the sound of the mind can be heard.
It is like the sea breaking on a far off reef,
and it lulls the being into extreme calm.
Like the sea it is a music primeval
and here is no storm,
only the silken waves soughing.

                        A.E.I. Falconar.

Photo: Sea stacks and surf at Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, WA; July 26, 2013 

This world is so beautiful that I can hardly believe it exists!

"This world is so beautiful that I can hardly believe it exists!"

Ralph Waldo Emerson  

Photo: Magenta Paintbrush and Mount Rainier; Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park, WA; July 30, 2013

Rocks and waters are words of God, and so are people.

"Rocks and waters, etc., are words of God and so are people."

The Contemplative John Muir

I wonder why human beings have a habit of looking for spiritual revelation solely in other, far distant eras, and in books that were written during those eras?  What kind of Creator would suddenly stop up the wells of inspiration, and refer everyone back to an earlier time?

Photo: Table Mountain and ice on an unnamed lake; Mount Baker Wilderness, WA; July 22, 2013.  Shortly after I shot this photo, the ice I was standing on gave way.  I almost fell into the lake!

Nature's creatures are the true saints.

"On my way back to the city [Salt Lake] the next day, I met a grave old Mormon with whom I had previously held some Latter-Day discussions.  I shook my big handful of mountain lilies in his face and shouted, 'Here are the true saints, ancient and Latter-Day, enduring forever!'  After he had recovered from his astonishment, he said, 'They are nice.' "

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Avalanche Lilies, Mount Rainier National Park, WA; July 30, 2013

Our bodies glow in beauty like Moses' burning bush.

"Pure pleasures of the flesh, our bodies glowing in beauty like trees in fire, like Moses' burning bush, without being consumed."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Willow, an unnamed lake, and Brown's Peak, Snowy Range, WY; September 20, 2013

I wish to have my immortality now, that it be in the quality of my daily life.

"I wish to transcend my daily routine and that of my townsmen; to have my immortality now; that it be in the quality of my daily life."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Englemann Spruce cones, an unnamed lake, and  Brown's Peak just before sunset; Snowy Range, WY; September 20, 2013.  The biological immortality of the tree is in the cones; this year, there are even more on the trees than usual!

With all your science can you tell how it is that light comes into the soul?

"With all your science can you tell how it is, and whence it is, that light comes into the soul?"

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Sunrise over Hayden Valley, dramatized by morning fog and forest fire smoke; Yellowstone National Park, WY; September 1, 2013

Human love affirms our individual identity, while Nature's love works ultimately to unite us with a Larger Identity.

"The shocks and outbursts of earthquakes, volcanoes, geysers, storms, the pounding of waves, the uprush of sap in plants, each and all tell the orderly love-beats of Nature's heart."

The Contemplative John Muir

The love we find in people is often quite different than the love we experience in Nature.  With people, love builds up and affirms the goodness of our individual existence, including our physical well-being.  Nature's love may also affirm our individuality, especially through the Great Silence which forms a kind of "listening" that enables us to find a voice for the depths of our own unique vision of the Universe.  But Nature's love is different than that of other human beings, for she may also KILL us with her love.  The floods and forest fires that have occurred in my home territory this past year are evidence of this.  Nature's love may not seem at first like the love we are accustomed to desiring.   For it works to dissolve our separate existence, causing us to find a Larger Identity in merging with the pregnant Silence and vast spaciousness of the Universe.  Indeed, this dissolving - on a psychological and spiritual level - is the ultimate goal of all the world's great contemplative traditions.  On a physical level, is this not what death is - a dissolving of the separate self in order to find union with a Larger Reality?  Contemplative traditions seek this union on a spiritual level, while Nature ultimately dissolves our biological existence, (although hopefully not until we've lived 75 or 80 years!) It is for this reason that we will always need both human love (to affirm our individual existence) and Nature's love (to affirm our Larger Identity) to help balance out each other.

Photo: Skeletons of Lodgepole Pines stand next to a hot spring that killed them when it opened up right next to the grove; West Thumb Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, WY; August 31, 2013

Each season gives a tone and hue to my thought.

"Each season gives a tone and hue to my thought."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Alpine Bog Birch leaves above jade-green Cirque Lake; Comanche Peak Wilderness, CO; September 9, 2013.  I took this photo two days before the flood.  Now, the damaged road makes it impossible to get up there!

These brown weeds and grasses that we say are dying in autumn frosts are in a gushing, glowing current of life; they too are godful and immortal.

"The warm blood of God flows through these mountain granites, flows through these frozen streams, flows through trees living or fallen, flows through death itself.  These brown weeds and grasses that we say are dying in autumn frosts are in a gushing glowing current of life; they too are godful and immortal."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Dried-out Fringed Gentian stalks glow in last light; Snowy Range, WY; September 16, 2013

Compared to hard-hearted people, rocks are comparatively soft.

"A hard, insensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock.  From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Multi-colored quartzite, with Brown's Peak in the background; Snowy Range, WY; September 16, 2013

Anyone not capable of enjoying camp life in the mountains is in no condition for heaven.

"Anyone not capable of enjoying camp life in the mountains is in no condition for heaven. We forget nowadays what we were made for. The peace of Nature gets into your heart before you are aware, without effort."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Heavens Peak and Subalpine Firs; Glacier National Park, MT; July 31, 2013

Fir Cone Synaesthesia: Vision Transformed into Taste

Whenever I come across fir cones laden with sap, I have a profound experience of synaesthesia.  In this case, the visual form of each cone stimulates my palate, eliciting a sense of taste.  It is as though the cones are a nutritious candy, topped with an evergreen-flavored glaze of sugar.  This sense is amplified if I unintentionally get some of the sticky sap on my fingers (and camera!).  For me, this transferral of vision to taste offers a sense that the landscape (like food) is within me, and not just outside.  In other words, it elicits a sense of UNION.

Photo: Subalpine Fir cones; Emmaline Lake Trail, Comanche Peak Wilderness, CO; September 9, 2013

Treating each moment as a new beginning keeps us forever young and vibrant.

One of the most important spiritual practices is the capacity to see each moment as a new beginning - a sunrise - and to listen for the fresh voice of the Spirit in that moment.  The alternative is a "same ol', same ol' " attitude that makes us age before our time.  But treating each moment as new and full of possibility keeps us forever young and vibrant.

Photo: Sunrise on Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY; August 31, 2013

Religion is on all the rocks.

"Religion is on all the rocks."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Blocks of quartzite glow in last light; Snowy Range, WY; September 16, 2013

Can receiving scant nurture for our vocation from others make us appear more ruggedly beautiful?

This tree may be growing in a difficult place - within a mere crack in a boulder that holds little soil or water - but this very difficulty makes it appear more ruggedly beautiful than the trees thriving under better conditions nearby. I wonder if we can draw a parallel with our own lives? Perhaps we find ourselves called to a vocation that receives very little nurture from others. Maybe very few follow our line of thinking or believe they need what we have to offer. Therefore, our career grows slowly and causes us to feel like we are living on the edge. But eventually, this hardship produces in us a ruggedly beautiful character - like that of this slow-growing tree - that cannot fail to attract the attention of others. That, at least, is my hope :)

Photo: Lodgepole Pine growing at Vedauwoo Recreation Area, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY; September 14, 2013

Spruce reaches out its branches like sensitive tentacles, feeling the light and reveling in it.

"Spruce . . . towers in unassuming majesty, loving the ground while transparently conscious of heaven and joyously receptive of its blessings, reaching out its branches like sensitive tentacles, feeling the light and reveling in it."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Englemann Spruce cone; near Medicine Bow Pass, Snowy Range, WY; August 24, 2013

Nature is a flood, and we are all in it.

"Nature is a flood, and we are all in it."

John Muir

Photo: I took this shot from a bridge over the Poudre River, about a mile from my house at the edge of Fort Collins, Colorado, on September 13, 2013.  On the left is someone's backyard; the remainder of the photo shows a flooded Poudre River Trail.  The floods of last week have been devastating!  About 19,000 homes have been flooded or destroyed, and 600 people are still unaccounted for.  One of the hardest-hit areas is Big Thompson Canyon, our main route up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  There, 17 miles of road have been damaged or destroyed, and many homes have been flooded.  In fact, both major routes to Estes Park are currently impassible, leaving that mountain community isolated during one of their busiest times of year.  Please keep the victims and survivors of the flood in your thoughts and prayers.

What America needs is one great healthy ability to say "No."

"What America needs is one great healthy ability to say 'No.'  To rest a minute and realize that many of the things being sought are unnecessary to a happy life.  We are suffering in our cities, from a need of simple things."

Carl Jung

Photo: A few of the Chokecherry leaves are beginning to change color!  Arthur's Rock is in the background. Lory State Park, CO; September 13, 2013

The more planless we go, the more surely we settle into right relations with the mountains.

"The more planless we go, the more surely we settle down into right relations with the mountains."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: I never planned on coming upon these mountain goats when I arose early to catch the sunrise, which made their appearance all the more special. Beartooth Mountains, WY; August 4, 2013

Perhaps a great love is never returned.

"Perhaps a great love is never returned.  Had it been given warmth and shelter by its counterpart in the Other, perhaps it would have been hindered from ever growing to maturity.  It 'gives' us nothing.  But in its world of loneliness it leads us up to summits with wide vistas - of insight."

Dag Hammarskjold

Photo: Indian Paintbrush, Siyeh Pass Trail, Glacier National Park, MT; August 1, 2013

The essence of each being is so deep that it engulfs its own simple ground.

Meister Eckhart, the medieval German mystic, once exclaimed: "Because God has an overflowing being, He transcends all knowledge."  The same, I believe, could be said of every creature.  Its essence is always bursting out of itself and overflowing, confusing the mind that wants to grasp it in a static way.  Eckhart also said of God that “You are so deep that you engulf your own simple ground.”  In other words, the overflowing of a thing's essence floods its interior as well.  This is poetic, paradoxical language, but it helps us get in touch with the utter mystery of things!

Photo: Golden Columbine, Siyeh Pass Trail, Glacier National Park, MT; August 1, 2013

The heart is the only broken instrument that works.

"The heart is the only broken instrument that works."

T.E. Kalem

Photo: Red boulder, Siyeh Pass Trail, Glacier National Park, MT; August 1, 2013

These mountain fires that glow in one's blood are free to all.

"These mountain fires that glow in one's blood are free to all. "

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo:  The very first aspen leaves are changing color!  Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; September 6, 2013

Silence is the cornerstone of character.

"We believe profoundly in silence - the sign of a perfect equilibrium.  Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit.  Those who can preserve their selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence - not a leaf, as it were, astir on the tree; not a ripple upon the shining pool - those, in the mind of the person of nature, possess the ideal attitude and conduct of life.  If you ask us, 'What is silence?' we will answer, 'It is the Great Mystery.  The holy silence is God's voice.'  If you ask, 'What are the fruits of silence?' we will answer, 'They are self-control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity, and reverence.  Silence is the cornerstone of character.' "

Ohiyesa
Santee Dakota Nation

Photo: Beartooth Butte reflected in Beartooth Lake; Beartooth Mts., WY; August 4, 2013

The essence of each and every thing is an EXPLOSION of being, a quality that makes it supremely mysterious!

Rilke has a line in one of his poems where he exclaims: "You were rich enough to be yourself A HUNDRED TIMES in just one flower . . . , but you never did think otherwise." Rilke was talking here about a rose, but I think he could just as well have been referring to ANY flower species, or to any being, for that matter. The point is that the essence of each and every thing is a SURPLUS of aliveness, a sort of EXPLOSION of being - one that makes all creatures inconceivably grand and mysterious!

Photo: Lewis Monkeyflowers, Glacier National Park, MT; August 1, 2013

What a thing it is to sit and be cherished by the speech that rain makes!

"What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone, in the forest, at night, cherished by this wonderful, unintelligible, perfectly innocent speech, the most comforting speech in the world,the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges, and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows! Nobody started it; nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, this rain. As long as it talks I am going to listen."

Thomas Merton

Photo: Indian Paintbrush, Grinnell Glacier, waterfall, and lake on a rainy day; Glacier National Park, MT; August 2, 2013

The natural and the common is more truly marvelous and mysterious than the so-called supernatural!

"The natural and the common is more truly marvelous and mysterious than the so-called supernatural.  Indeed, most of the miracles we hear of are infinitely less wonderful than the commonest of natural phenomena, when fairly seen."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Alpine Bog Birch is the first shrub to turn autumn colors in the high country.  I found these growing next to Two Rivers Lake, in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.  The peak is called "Notchtop"; September 6, 2013

The geological history of the Earth helps put our personal emotional drama into perspective!

Recently I've made a commitment to avoid giving more than momentary attention to my own emotional drama. This includes especially thoughts about this or that person not liking me, or about my own failings that I so often imagine might be the cause of that slight.

For me, time spent in the wilderness helps put things in perspective. This is especially true at Yellowstone. There, 640,000 years ago, a volcanic explosion formed a caldera nearly five eighths of a mile deep and 45 by 28 miles wide. It is inside the boundaries of this caldera that Yellowstone's many thermal features occur.

Of what significance are my petty emotional dramas compared to an explosion so strong, it didn't even have time to form the sloping sides of a classic volcano, but instead blew a hole clear out of the ground! Such is the power of wilderness and of an appreciation for the geological history of the world to put the puny ego-self into perspective!

Photo: A lone hiker walks at the West Thumb Geyser Basin (next to Yellowstone Lake); Yellowstone National Park, WY; August 31, 2013

The spirit of the landscape has the patience to see who we really are.

Each of us seeks a mirror in which we can see our true self most clearly. Generally, other people cannot serve as the primary mirror, for they - like us - are often distracted and preoccupied, and thus do not have the patience to look beyond our superficial qualities in order to see into the depths. The spirit of the Landscape, on the other hand, has all the time in the world. It is She who possesses the silence - a stillness whose other name is love - as well as the perseverance and patience to see into the truest part of who we really are. When we understand this fact, we are then able to maintain a lighter touch with people, a stance which gives them the freedom to serve as partial mirrors that are then capable of revealing to us bits and pieces of our own true self.

Photo: Beartooth Butte reflected in Beartooth Lake; Beartooth Mountains, WY; August 4, 2013

John Muir understood that all creatures have feelings and troubles and joys just like people.

"Papa taught us from the time we were small children that all creatures have feelings and troubles and joys just like people, and that we must always remember that fact and be considerate of them."

Helen Muir,
John Muir's daughter

Photo: Indian Paintbrush blooming amidst the rocks; Siyeh Pass Trail; Glacier National Park, MT; August 1, 2013

Earth is partly heaven, and heaven, earth.

"Earth is partly heaven, and heaven, earth."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Heavens Peak and snags from a forest fire; Glacier National Park, MT; July 31, 2013

You will see that each thing has already exploded stilly and silently and made the earth more brilliant than any heaven.

"You will see that each thing is a hidden treasure because of its divine fullness, and you will see that each thing has already exploded stilly and silently and made the earth more brilliant than any heaven."

Jalaluddin Rumi

Photo: Pink Indian Paintbrush blooming along the Garden Wall; Glacier National Park, MT; July 31, 2013

Why not focus on seeing one another ablaze with the light of Divine glory?

This past weekend, we held a memorial service for my cousin, who passed away at age 58 of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Following his family's wishes, the occasion was more a celebration of Kevin's life than a mourning. As each person took turns speaking during the service, we all focused on Kevin's wonderful qualities, including his capacity to be both a trickster and an encourager of the gifts of others. During the funeral, I got to thinking: we rightfully focus on the BEST traits of a person at a memorial service. At that time, we see them ablaze with the light of Divine glory. Why then do we not take the same approach toward others WHILE THEY ARE STILL LIVING? Why do we so often wait until they leave us to compliment them as they were at their best? It seems to me that when others tell us the things they APPRECIATE about us, we rise to the occasion and begin to embody those traits more fully. Since that memorial service, I've found myself intensifying the desire to compliment others and to make sure they know how special they are. Why else are we here on this earth, if not to reveal and highlight each other's sacredness?

Photo: The sun shines through a recently deceased Lodgepole Pine; West Thumb Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, WY; August 31, 2013

Yellowstone shakes us out of apathy into newness of life.

"The geysers and hot springs . . . display an exuberance of color and strange motion and energy admirably calculated to surprise and frighten, charm and shake up the least sensitive out of apathy into newness of life
 . . . You will be brought to a standstill, hushed and awe-stricken before phenomena wholly new to you."

John Muir,
at Yellowstone

Photo: Firehole Spring, Yellowstone National Park, WY; August 31, 2013

What is to give light must endure burning.

"What is to give light must endure burning."

Viktor Frankl,

Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor

Forest fire smoke made for some spectacular sunrises and sunsets at Yellowstone on Labor Day weekend.  The park rangers I talked to said that most of the smoke was actually drifting from the Rim Fire at Yosemite in California, at least 800 miles away!  As I travel across the West taking pictures each summer, I'm always amazed to see how much fire activity there is.  It seems to be a major component of Western living these days.

Photo: Dying tree silhouetted on Yellowstone Lake at sunset; Yellowstone National Park, WY; September 1, 2013

"Methinks my own soul must be a bright invisible green.

"Methinks my own soul must be a bright invisible green."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Emerald Pool, Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, WY; September 1, 2013

Ethereal moments in Nature reveal the fact that EVERY moment of our lives is just as mysterious.

I love ethereal moments in Nature, because they offer a window into the fact that EVERY moment of our lives is just as mysterious, arising as it does like an echo within the vast expanse of divine Love, a resonance whose source lies in the Nowhere.

Photo: Just after sunrise at West Thumb Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, WY; August 31, 2013

The spiritual journey involves transforming the sand grits of life into spiritual pearls.

One of the most important tasks of the spiritual journey is developing an ability to take the sand grits in our life - that is, our external challenges and internal failings - and transform them into a beautiful pearl, an image which represents the goodness and divinity lying hidden within all things. This approach does not involve denying the grittiness of life, but rather facing it head on and then using creative imagination and intuition to find the sacredness present there.

Photo: Pearl Pool, Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, WY; September 1, 2013

At Yellowstone, we can clearly see that creation is STILL occurring.

"In no other place I know of may you more surely learn that the world, though made, is yet being made.  The work of creation is still going on.  God is doing his best in it, working with human enthusiasm and making everything sing the first song of creation."

John Muir,
at Yellowstone

Photo: Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, WY; September 1, 2013

In wildness is the preservation of the world.

"In wildness is the preservation of the world."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Lodgepole Pine and the Yellowstone River; Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park, WY; September 1, 2013

To the Lakota, the buffalo is a symbol of self-sacrifice.

"The Lakota used every part of the buffalo. They used the skins, which were tanned for clothing, moccasins, and tipi covers. They used the tendons (sinew) from the animals as string for their bows, as well as for thread. The stomach and bladder were used to carry water. The tail was used as a fly swatter; bones were carved for knives, spears, arrowheads, fleshing tools, scrapers, awls, paintbrushes, toys, shovels, splints, and war clubs. The horns were used for cups and spoons, hooves were made into glue, and ribs were used as sled runners. The hair was twisted into rope, and the dried buffalo droppings, called chips, were used as fuel for their fires. In this way, the buffalo was a true relative for the people – making life possible.

Because of the buffalo’s great importance to the people, a buffalo symbol or buffalo skull is present in all sacred Lakota rituals. It stands as a reminder of this great animal which gives completely of itself for others. The buffalo is a symbol of self-sacrifice; it gives until there is nothing left."

The Lodge of Šung'manitu-Išna

Photo: Buffalo next to the Yellowstone River at sunset; Yellowstone National Park, WY; September 1, 2013

Can we view the shifting nature of life as potentially beautiful - like the colors of an opal?

Some of the hot springs at Yellowstone remind me of an opal - iridescent, continually shifting in hue, beautiful. So often we bemoan the fact that life constantly changes.  The situations, qualities, experiences and people we try to hold onto inevitably shift, leaving us to deal with sorrow at their loss.  I wonder - is it possible to view life's changes as a beautiful opal?  Can we have the faith to trust that when we lose one color, another - just as beautiful - will replace it?  When we lose a person's presence in one form, is it possible that they will still remain with us in another form? Perhaps instead of holding on to the colors we love, we can identify ourselves with the vast expanse of divine love - symbolized by the wide surface of the opaline hot spring.  While the colors change on any given day, the overall expanse of the spring does not.

Photo: Hot Spring in Porcelain Basin, Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, WY; September 1, 2013

We all flow from one fountain Soul.

"We all flow from one fountain Soul.  All are expressions of one Love.  God does not appear, and flow out, only from narrow chinks and round bored wells here and there in favoured races and places, but He flows in grand undivided currents, shoreless and boundless over creeds and forms and all kinds of civilizations and peoples and beasts, saturating and fountainising all."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Imperial Geyser, one of Yellowstone's backcountry thermal features; Yellowstone National Park, WY; August 31, 2013

The Yellowstone landscape embodies a harmony of contrasts.

Yellowstone is a unique landscape, making it difficult to put the spirit of the place into words.  The geysers, hot springs, mudpots and fumeroles give a sense that the Earth is completely and exuberantly alive and active.  By contrast, the rivers and meadows offer a feeling of contemplative rest.  The wide-open sky and vast lake surfaces embody a sense of spaciousness, while the abundant wildlife leaves us feeling that we are intimate with the rest of creation. What a harmony of opposites Yellowstone is!

Photo: Biscuit Basin at sunset; Yellowstone National Park, WY; July 31, 2013