The world is mind precipitated.

 

"Nature is the incarnation of a thought, and turns to thought, again, as ice becomes water and gas.  The world is mind precipitated, and the volatile essence is forever escaping again into the state of free thought."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo: Rings of snow on Bierstadt Lake, with Long's Peak in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 24, 2014

Remaining Centered in the True Self is the Key to Happiness

The compact nature of this prairie saxifrage clump reminds me to remain centered in the true self, which is actually transparent to the spaciousness and vastness of the Divine Presence.  All problems, it seems, come from forgetting about this Divine Center.

Photo: Saxifrage, with one of the Pawnee Buttes in the background; Weld County, CO; June 10, 2013

Spiritual insight is meant to go through cycles of freezing and thawing.

 

Spiritual revelation is always fresh and new, like a continually moving stream of ever-evolving wisdom.  Jesus called it "rivers of living water."  Here, insight comes in waves of revelation which arrive and then move on to reveal other insights.  Generally, the impulse of religion is to freeze that river of revelation, allowing us to examine the new insights from various angles with a calm, radiant mind.  However, we are then meant to allow the Spring sunshine of Divine Light to melt the frozen waves of accumulated theological truth, enabling them to flow and evolve into fresh insight once more, until the next winter of reflection arrives.  It is this sort of cycle that makes for a healthy spiritual life.

Photo: "Frozen waves" on Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 24, 2014

Desert Spirituality

 

Desert spirituality involves developing the capacity to find spiritual water directly within the experience of dryness. Here, we discover the amazing truth that our thirst for Love is actually a participation in Love's thirst for us.

Photo: Shrubby Evening Primrose; Pawnee Buttes, Weld County, CO; June 10, 2013

The old Lakota knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard.

 

"The Lakota loved the earth and all things of the earth, the attachment growing with age.  The old people came literally to love the soil and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power.  It was good for the skin to touch the earth and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred earth . . . The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing.  That is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life-giving forces.  For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly; he can see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.  The old Lakota was wise.  He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard . . . So he kept his youth close to its softening influence."

Luther Standing Bear,
Lakota chief

Photo: Wildflower clump and butte at sunset; Pawnee Buttes, Weld County, CO; June 19, 2013

Bliss has frozen itself into physical creations.

"The yogi realizes that bliss - conscious, intelligent, everlasting, all-pervading, ever new joy - has frozen itself into physical creations."

Paramahansa Yogananda

Photo: Artistically- carved ice on Dream Lake; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 24, 2014

All that matters is our relationship to the Divine.

 

Yesterday I was fretting for much of the day about a communication difficulty I am having with a loved one and with a new family member. I found myself obsessing over the problem, becoming ever more stressed and tight in the process. However, my suffering began to dissolve as I was snowshoeing across a high mountain lake. Suddenly, it occurred to me that the only ones who ultimately exist in this situation are myself and the Divine. All things - including all of the people in my life - are simply the Great Mystery in hiding. And ultimately, of course, even my own self is meant to become transparent to the Beloved. When I realized this great truth, my heaviness began to evaporate, and a profound sense of silence, union and bliss descended upon me.

Photo: Bierstadt Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 24, 2014

Spring-Beauty Memories

 

Whenever I find a Spring-Beauty, I recall the time I hiked across an entire meadow of them above treeline in the Tetons.  The vastness, timelessness and beauty of that day has remained with me ever since.

Photo: Spring-Beauty, Lory State Park, CO; February 23, 2014

A major task of our life on Earth is forming a meaningful pattern from the overwhelming welter of events and experiences.

 

A major task of our life here on Earth is taking the almost overwhelming welter of events and experiences, and forming a meaningful pattern from them - one that is integrative, loving, unitive and liberating.

Photo: Snow patterns on Zimmerman Lake; near Cameron Pass, CO; January 18, 2014

Sunshine almost all the time makes me high.

 

"Sunshine almost all the time makes me high."

John Denver,
"Sunshine on My Shoulder"

This morning I felt sort of low, especially since I've been fighting a cold. However, in the afternoon I took a hike and sat in the sun for an hour or so at my wintertime meditation spot on a south-facing cliff high in the foothills. A few more Spring-Beauty flowers - the first mountain wildflowers of the Spring - were blooming next to the rocks. I closed my eyes, meditated for twenty minutes in the sun, and felt my spirits recharged.

Photo: Spring-Beauty blooming on the south side of Arthur's Rock; Lory State Park, CO; February 23, 2014

Doing Rare Things

 

"If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Purple Lady's Slipper, Fern Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; July 1, 2013. Botanist William Weber list this flower as "Very Rare." I feel fortunate to have discovered it!

The life of each of us is a wave-crest on the vast lake of Being.

 

The life of each of us is a wave-crest on the vast lake of Being, while our death is a swell at the bottom of that crest. Our being is thus interconnected with all other beings, making a pattern of great beauty.

Photo: Waves of snow on frozen Two Rivers Lake, with Notchtop Mountain in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 20, 2014

The wind blows wherever it wishes . . .

"The wind blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it is coming from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

John 3:8

Photo: Windstorm on The Loch; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 28. 2014

Few people are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees.

 

"Few people are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to our hearts, and if people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Ice-frosted Ponderosa Pine and Mountain-mahogany bush stand atop a ridge; Lory State Park, CO; February 10, 2014

The air fairly thrills and quivers!

"The air fairly thrills and quivers, as if one actually felt the beatings of the infinitely small electric waves of life and light drenching every cell of flesh and bone, bringing on a complete resurrection!"

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Windstorm on The Loch; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 28, 2014

The beauty of wisdom often increases with age.

 

These tough old Limber Pine trees inspire me to remember that the beauty of wisdom often increases with age.  Young people these days crave true mentors who are capable of inspiring hope in the midst of life's challenges.  Will the rest of us rise to the occasion?

Photo: Limber Pines weathering a windstorm on The Loch; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 28, 2014

The wind is the whisper of our mother the earth . . .

 

"The wind is the whisper of our mother the earth
The wind is the hand of our father the sky
The wind watches over our struggles and pleasures
The wind is the goddess who first learned to fly"

John Denver,
"Windsong"

Photo: A windstorm at The Loch, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 28, 2014

I love being completely immersed in a mountain windstorm!

 

I love being completely immersed in a mountain windstorm, with snow blowing all around.  It's as though the Earth is stripping me of my society-based stresses and filling me with the virtues of the wilderness, including an ability to take the Larger view.

Photo: Subalpine Fir immersed in a windstorm; The Loch, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 28, 2014

These mountain fires glow in one's blood.

"These mountain fires glow in one's blood."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Sunset over Two Rivers Lake, with Notchtop Mountain looming above; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 20, 2014

Winds will blow their own freshness into you . . .

"Winds will blow their own freshness into you . . ."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: A windy day on Fern Lake; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 17, 2014

The first foothills wildflower is blooming!

Today when I hiked up to my wintertime meditation spot high on a south-facing slope in the foothills, I discovered a blossom of the very first wildflower of the season peeking up above the dried grass! The sun-heated rock lying next to this Spring-beauty flower enabled it to get an early start. Actually, the blooming of the other Spring-beauty blossoms won't occur for another month. But this forerunner brings me a taste of the expansive state of mind and heart that is so much a part of Spring and Summer!

Photo: Spring-beauty flower growing on the south side of Arthur's Rock; Lory State Park, CO; February 18, 2014

Our love lights the understanding.

 

"Our love lights the understanding."

Francisco de Osuna,
15th century Spanish Franciscan mystic

Photo: The sun shines through a layer of misty snow-clouds, with an aspen tree in the foreground; Bierstadt Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 11, 2014

A hike in the mountains helps move us beyond the obsessive clutches of the tight, leaden ego-self.

 

The perennial temptation - especially in wintertime - is to collapse in on the ego-self with its tight, claustraphobic, leaden concerns about individual needs, desires and worries.  For me, one of the chief manifestations of ego is the anger that arises when I seem to have no "say" in a situation.  This occurs especially when other people try to impose their will on me without asking my input.  However, I find that when I take a hike in the mountains, the spaciousness of the true self manifests itself more clearly, helping me realize that oneness with the transparency and vastness of the Divine Mind is the only way to move beyond the obsessive clutches of the ego-self.

Photo: Ponderosa Pine and peaks above Moraine Park on a stormy day; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 15, 2014

Cherish these natural wonders for your children and your children's children.

 

In honor of Presidents' Day, the National Park Service allowed visitors to enter the parks free of charge on Monday. I went to Rocky Mountain National Park and snowshoed up to Fern Lake. On the way down, I couldn't help but think of President Theodore Roosevelt's words about land preservation:

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”

Photo: Sunset at Fern Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 17, 2014

A Spirituality of Frosted Trees

 

Last week, a hike up toward Arthur's Rock revealed Ponderosa Pine trees heavily frosted with ice - a beautiful sight!  I thought immediately of the parallels the scene offered to the inner life.  The trees represent our own stillness and rootedness in the sacredness of Mother Earth - our love of Her and of the Larger Whole. The coldness of the air, by contrast, stands for the purity of our detachment from the false self - the ego that is all closed in on its own concerns and needs.  And the atmospheric moisture embodies the ever-present abundance of God's grace.  I find it fascinating to realize that whenever love for the Larger Whole and detachment from the claustrophobic ego-self are present, Divine grace automatically crystallizes in our lives, bringing with it an amazing display of beauty and radiance!

Photo: Ice-covered Ponderosa Pines, with Arthur's Rock as a backdrop; Lory State Park, CO; February 10, 2014

No people on Earth ever enjoyed a freedom like we Indians enjoyed before the White Man came to this country.

 

"No people on Earth ever enjoyed a freedom like we Indians enjoyed before the White Man came to this country.  Everything was free.  We were free and so were the animals and the birds and the rivers and the whole wonderful land from end to end.  All free.  All pure.  All happy.  This was the freest and purest and happiest place in the whole Universe.  We were the Great Spirit's forest children, living free according to His Law.  Then Columbus and his gang hit this country by accident.  We're sorry that they did.  Our Instructions didn't tell us what to do about the White Man.  We welcomed him when he came here.  We fed him.  We took care of him.  We believed God had sent him here to help us.  God gave the White Man powers we never saw before - material powers.  He was supposed to share those powers to make life better for all of us.  He was supposed to use the material power in the service of the spiritual power.  He was supposed to connect them.  He didn't.  Instead, he used his material powers to steal our land and our freedom . . . Only one thing's sadder than remembering you once were free, and that's FORGETTING you once were free.  That would be the saddest thing of all. That's one thing we Indians will never do."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota chief and elder

Photo: Yellow Vetch blowing in the wind, with the Yellow Mounds behind; Badlands National Park, SD; May 19, 2012

"When I get mad, I'm no good!"

"When I get mad, I'm no good.  I remember how I used to get mad thinking about how they murdered Noble Red Man and those other great leaders - Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Big Foot and all the others.  I was a young man, hot-headed.  My anger got the best of me.  I couldn't think right.  I said, 'I'm going to get back at them every way I can.'  And I did.  You'd probably do the same thing.  I won't tell you what I did.  There's a lot of things I'm not telling.  They're mine.  We revenge ourselves in many ways.  But that only makes us wicked, too.  My wife finally came to me.  She said, 'Don't do that anymore.  You're going to get killed.  And besides, it's WRONG.'  So I stopped.  I tried peace instead.  Peace is harder, but it's a better way.  Peace is God's way . . . If you want to fly with the eagle, you can't be wicked."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota chief and elder

Photo: Stormclouds at sunset over the prairie; Badlands National Park, SD; May 20, 2011

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The task of the spiritual journey involves discovering the patterns that will enable us to live in the most centered manner possible.

While snowshoeing across Dream Lake, I encountered thousands of different patterns, created by snow filling depressions in the ice carved by scouring winds. When I came upon this particular pattern, it gave me a centered feeling, inspiring me to lie down on the ice and photograph it. Similarly, there are dozens of different patterns present in our lives - some of them meaningful, and some of them not. The task of the spiritual journey involves discovering the patterns that will enable us to live in the most centered manner possible, and then focusing our attention on those. In doing so, we end up contributing meaning to the Cosmos - and to God - as well.

Photo: Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 3, 2014

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White Man can't get away with destroying God's world!

 

"White Man is going to fall, and fall hard . . . You'll realize you can't get away with destroying God's world.  Don't think you can get away with it . . . You white people are going to learn the most important lesson - that God is the most important thing there is."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota chief and elder

Photo: The Badlands at sunset; Badlands National Park, SD; May 20, 2011

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When you share with others, you share with God.

"When you share with others, you share with God."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota chief and elder

Sunset, Badlands National Park, SD; May 20, 2011

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When we view a familiar landscape from a fresh point of view, we behold a new heaven and earth and are born again!

 

"All that is necessary to make any landscape visible and therefore impressive is to regard it from a new point of view . . . Then we behold a new heaven and earth and are born again, as if we had gone on a pilgrimage to some far-off holy land."

The Contemplative John Muir

For this shot, I decided to try a new perspective by leaning against the sandstone cliff and looking up at the fin-like rocks projecting from the top. The lichen coating the surface next to me made for a nice contrast!

Photo: Lory State Park, CO; February 13, 2014

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Use your power in harmony with God.

"Every person has to find their own power, because each of us possesses a certain power.  Search yourself for that power, know how to reach it inside yourself, and then use that power in harmony with God - for good and not evil."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota chief and elder

Photo: The Badlands at sunset, Badlands National Park, SD; May 20, 2011

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Our longing for love is a participation in Love's longing for us.

 

One of the chief insights of the contemplative journey is the realization that our longing for love and fulfillment - for the Divine, ultimately - is actually a participation in the longing of the Divine for us!  Here, each of these two expressions of desire continually shapeshifts into the other!  The Greek word used by the early Christian mystics for this continual movement is perichoresis, which means "the dance around." Thus, when we stop identifying ourselves so strongly with the limited sense of "I" that gets us into so much trouble, we enter the space in between these two desires.  Here, our desire for Love becomes Love's desire for us becomes our desire for Love becomes Love's desire for us - on and on, World without end!

Photo: Alpine Forget-me-not flowers; Montgomery Pass, CO; June 27, 2013

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Love is its own merit and its own reward.

 

“Love is its own merit and its own reward. Love needs no cause, no fruit besides itself; its enjoyment is its practice. I love because I love; I love that I may love. Love is a great thing; as long as it returns to its beginning in God, goes back to its origin, turns again to its source, it will always draw afresh from it and flow freely."

St. Bernard of Clairvaux,
12th century Cistercian monk

Photo: Lewis Monkeyflowers growing along the Garden Wall; Glacier National Park, MT; July 31, 2013

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The Thunder Nation spirits mean yes when they say no, and no when they say yes!

"In Lakota culture, the Heyoka spirit comes from the Wakiyan oyote, the Thunder nation . . . When that spirit says yes, it means no.  When it says no, it means yes.  Whatever it says, it means the opposite.  We call that spirit a Heyoka."

Albert White Hat, Sr.,
Lakota chief

Photo: Thunderclouds, Badlands National Park, SD; May 17, 2013.  Several hours after I took this shot, I was reading in my tent.  Suddenly, the fiercest storm I've ever experienced let loose from these clouds.  The lightning and thunder came CONTINUOUSLY for three or four hours.  It was absolutely amazing!

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You have never thanked us!

 

"The Black Hills are where we came out of the Earth, where our ancestors are buried, where we go for sacred ceremony. They are the birthplace of the Lakota people. The White Man wants us to take a hundred million dollars for our Black Hills. But a hundred billion wouldn't be enough! Not even four hundred billion! That wouldn't even pay for the damages you've done. You can never pay us for what you've stolen and destroyed . . . The Black Hills aren't for sale. What if we offered you a hundred million dollars for the Vatican, for Jerusalem? . . . You White Men have taken everything and given us nothing, but worst of all, you have never thanked us! You've got to change your ways.

"I had a talk with a congressman about why we won't sell the Black Hills. He asked me, 'King, why do you Indians need all that land? You don't do anything with the land you've already got. Why do you need more? We'll give you some money instead of those hills.' I told him, right there in the halls of Congress, with people all around listening, I told him: 'You say I don't DO anything with my land? Well, what do you mean by doing? To the White Man, doing means changing things, destroying everything, chopping the forests and damming the rivers and polluting the skies. White Man wants us to be like him and build factories and motels and hamburger stands. We don't want those things! You say I don't DO anything with our land? What I do is I live there by God's Law. That's what I do there.' I told that congressman, 'I don't want to change or destroy it. It's my land. God gave me the title. You can't change that no matter how many lies you tell. No power on Earth can change that. Who do you think you are to tell me what to do on my own land? Only God tells me that!'

"I started getting pretty mad. That was my wicked streak coming out, you know. Finally, I said to him louder than I should have, 'You don't know what the hell you're talking about!' I shouldn't have said that, I know. He's a congressman, a bigwig. People were standing right there listening. There were some ladies among them. I told the ladies, 'Excuse my language, but I feel like cussin'!' Everybody laughed, except that congressman. I thought I'd offended them. Instead, they applauded me - right there in the halls of Congress."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota chief and elder

Photo: Shooting Stars blooming under Ponderosa Pines after a fire; Black Hills, SD; May 20, 2011

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Our Original Instructions

"White Man came to this country and forgot his original Instructions.  We Indians have never forgotten our Instructions . . . Our Instructions are very simple - to respect the Earth and each other, to respect LIFE ITSELF.  That's our first commandment, the first line of our Gospel."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota elder and chief

Photo: Colorful Badlands formations; Badlands National Park, CO; May 18, 2013

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The crux of prayer is listening to God.

  

"When I go up on the hill to pray I don't just talk to God.  I try to get the talking over quick. Mostly I'm listening.  Listening to God - that's praying, too . . . So that's how you pray to God.  You LISTEN."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota chief and elder

Photo: Badlands National Park, SD; May 18, 2013

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God makes the world new each morning.

 

"God's been making the world for millions of years, and He's still not finished.  He makes it new each morning when the sun comes up.  If He didn't - poof! - the world would be gone.  That's why we send up our prayers to Him each morning and each evening - to thank Him for the world.  If we didn't thank Him, He might not keep making the world new.  It would all be gone.  And what would White Man have to steal from us then?"

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota chief and elder

Photo: Yellow Mounds section of the Badlands; Badlands National Park, SD; May 18, 2013

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God sees through your eyes and my eyes.

 

"Everyone is sacred.  You're sacred and I'm sacred.  Every time you blink your eye, or I blink my eye, God blinks His eye.  God sees through your eyes and my eyes.  We are sacred."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota elder

Photo: Badlands National Park, SD; May 18, 2013

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Our mind is part of God's mind.

 

"I know God is with me.  I believe in God's power.  We live by his power as we sit here and talk.  That's God's power you're thinking with.  It's God's mind.  Our mind is part of God's mind.  Our mind is part of Nature, part of God.  To Indians, Nature is God and God is Nature.  So when I work for my people, I'm working for God, I'm working for Nature.  Who are YOU working for?"

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota elder

Photo: An impending storm hangs over the Badlands; Badlands National Park, SD; May 18, 2013

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You are good!

"Goodness is the natural state of the world.  The world is good!  Even when it seems evil, it's good.  There's only goodness in God.  And that same goodness is in us all.  You can feel it in yourself. You know when you feel good inside.  Yes, you're God's child, too.  You are good.  You are sacred.  Respect yourself.  Love the goodness in yourself.  Then, put that goodness into the world.  That's everybody's Instructions.  God made you so you feel good when you do right.  Watch when you feel good and follow that good feeling.  The good feeling comes from God.  When you feel good, God feels good, too. God and you feel good together."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota elder

Photo: Ponderosa Pine trees and Bear Lodge; Devil's Tower National Monument, WY; May 18, 2013

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'Tis the Gift to be Simple

‘Tis the Gift to be Simple, ‘Tis the Gift to be Free,
‘Tis the Gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of Love and Delight!

Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett,
Maine, ca. 1850

Photo: Engelmann Spruce and Lodgepole Pines; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 8, 2014

 

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Humans are needed to connect the Three Powers together.

 

"God put Three Powers into the world for us to use. We need them all. We Indians know all three. It took us millions of years to find them. There's the material power, the spiritual power, and the supernatural power. The material power is the goodness of the Earth. The spiritual power is the goodness of human beings. The supernatural power is the goodness of God, the Great Spirit. The Three Powers are all separate. They're not connected. It's the job of human beings to make that connection. We connect the Three Powers with our prayers, with our ceremonies, with our deeds. Every good deed is a pillar of the Creation. Every prayer holds up the world. Our ceremony, our Sun Dance, keeps the Universe in harmony by connecting the Three Powers . . . Without the spiritual power the material power will destroy all life. Materialism without spirituality is the curse of the world. Spiritual power is the power to do good. It's the power to pray, to talk to God, to listen to Him, to follow His instructions . . . It's what makes us human. The third power refers to God Himself, the Great Mysterious. You can't use it for yourself. That's sorcery. It's supposed to use you . . . If you're open to God, if you're using your spiritual power, then God will use His supernatural power to help you . . . It's the Great Reality."

Mathew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota elder

Photo: Stormy sky, sunlit badlands, and prairie; Badlands National Park, SD; May 18, 2013

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A Spiritual Trinity: Form, Spaciousness, and we in the middle, between Them.

 

When we look into the mirror of transparent, spacious awareness, we feel amazement when the solidity of form suddenly arises, as though out of nowhere, as the embodiment of that spaciousness. However, when we turn in the opposite direction and gaze into the mirror of form - surprise! - the seeming solidity of things suddenly becomes transparent to spacious awareness, which is form's true inner nature. Thus, we experience a sort of trinity, with spaciousness on one side, form on the other, and WE in the middle!

Photo: Aspen trunks, Mill Creek Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 8, 2014

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The Great Mysterious

 

"You can call Wakan-Tanka by any name you like.  In English, I call Him God or the Great Spirit.  He's the Great Mystery, the Great Mysterious.  That's what Wakan-Tanka really means - the Great Mysterious.  You can't define Him.  He's not actually a 'He' or a 'She,' a 'Him' or a 'Her.'  We have to use those kinds of words because you can't just say 'It.'  God's never an 'It.'  So call Wakan-Tanka whatever you like.  Just be sure to call Him.  He wants to talk to you."

Matthew King (Noble Red Man),
Lakota Elder

Photo: Ponderosa Pine and Bear Lodge; Devil's Tower National Monument, SD; May 18, 2013

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In a drab, corporate-driven society, we are called to be bright spots of uniqueness, creativity and hope.

 

I love coming upon bright-colored lichens on a grey winter day. They remind me that each of us is meant not merely to absorb passively the drabness of a corporate-dominated society. Rather, we are called to be a bright spot of uniqueness, creativity and hope in this world.

Photo: Yellow lichen, Lory State Park, CO; January 31, 2014

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Isn't it amazing that the most basic necessity of life - water - takes so many beautiful and artistic forms?

 

Isn't it amazing that the most basic necessity of life - water - takes so many beautiful and artistic forms? Our bodies are 55-60% water, which means that WE are innately beautiful as well!

Photo: Ice and snow patterns on Dream Lake; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 3, 2014

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Jesus said: "Split a piece of wood: I am there."

 

"Jesus said: 'It is I who am the light that presides over all. It is I who am the entirety: it is from me that the entirety has come, and to me that the entirety goes. Split a piece of wood: I am there. Lift a stone, and you will find me there.' "

Gospel of Thomas 

Photo: Weathered Limber Pine trunk, with Emerald Lake and rock spires in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 3, 2014

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Unity is the Ultimate Reality

 

Tonight I was feeling low about the fact that I'll almost certainly be laid off from Naropa at the end of the semester.  I just read in the Boulder newspaper that the dispute between the university and the professor I'm temporarily replacing has been solved.

However, my grief began to subside when I suddenly became aware of the fact that - at the deepest level - there is no such thing as mere individuals - i.e., me, the professor who's replacing me, the administration folks who made the decision to negotiate with him, etc.  Rather, there is only the Divine, mirrored in each one of us in a different way.  Although - as individuals - we have competing agendas, deep inside, we are all actually God-in-hiding! And with that realization, I enter into the rich solitude of Divine unity :)

Photo: Subalpine Fir, Emerald Lake and Hallett Peak; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 3, 2014

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