Every particle of Nature's material is eternally flowing from beauty to yet higher beauty.

 

"We learn that no particle of Nature's material is wasted or worn out. It is eternally flowing from use to use, beauty to yet higher beauty; and we soon cease to lament waste and death, and rather rejoice and exult in the imperishable, unspendable wealth of the universe, and faithfully watch and await the reappearance of everything that melts and fades and dies about us, feeling sure that its next appearance will be better and more beautiful than the last."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: A Pasqueflower blooms in the ash next to a burned tree trunk; High Park Burn; Roosevelt National Forest, CO; March 29, 2014

The earth as seen in the clean wilds of the mountains is about as divine as anything the heart of man can conceive!

 

"The earth as seen in the clean wilds of the mountains is about as divine as anything the heart of man can conceive!"

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Ice and snow patterns on Dream Lake, with the sun peeking through a hole in the clouds; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 28, 2014

The eye of the poet never closes on the kinship of all God's creatures.

"The man of science, the naturalist, too often loses sight of the essential oneness of all living beings in seeking to classify them, while the Eye of the Poet, the Seer, never closes on the kinship of all God's creatures, and his heart ever beats in sympathy with great and small alike."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Pasqueflowers, Hewlett Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; March 26, 2014

In God's wildness lies the hope of the world.

 

"In God's wildness lies the hope of the world, the great, fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and the wounds heal 'ere we are aware."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Mount Ypsilon and a Subalpine Fir on a windy day; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 24, 2014

He wrapped himself in quotations - as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of emperors.

 

"He wrapped himself in quotations - as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of emperors."

Rudyard Kipling

Photo: Purple Pasqueflowers blooming in dried grass; Hewlett Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; March 26, 2014

Colman the Monk's best friends included a fly.

“Colman the monk was so eager to imitate the poverty of Christ that he had no property and no earthly possessions whatever – unless his three dearest friends could be called possessions. These friends were a cock, a mouse and a fly. The cock used to crow in the middle of the night in order to wake Colman for prayer. The mouse would then wake Colman in the morning by gnawing at his clothes and nibbling his ears. Even when Colman was utterly exhausted from his long night vigils, and when his body craved sleep, the mouse kept nibbling until Colman got up – to ensure that Colman never gave in to the sin of sloth. But the fly’s service was the most remarkable. When Colman sat down to read the Scriptures, the fly would walk down the page at precisely the same pace as Colman read the lines. And if Colman was called away on some business, or if he looked up from the page to reflect on what he had read, the fly stayed at the line. Thus when Colman continued reading, he could find his place at once. At length these three creatures died, so Colman lost their service and companionship. And, his heart heavy with sorrow, he wrote to his spiritual friend, Columba, abbot of Iona. Columba replied both in jest and in wisdom: ‘To you, the cock, mouse and the fly were as precious as the richest jewels, so rejoice that God has taken those jewels to himself.’ ”

6th century Celtic Christian story

Photo: Fly and Pasqueflower, Hewlett Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; March 26, 2014

When will the world learn that a million men are of no importance compared with one man?

 

"I don't like the city better, the more I see of it, but worse.  It is a thousand times meaner than I could have imagined . . . When will the world learn that a million men are of no importance compared with one man?"

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Pasqueflower, Lory State Park, CO; March 20, 2014

Spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos.

 

"As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden Age."

Henry David Thoreau  

Photo: Pasqueflowers blooming in the snow; Lory State Park, CO; March 22, 2014

Why does religion have so much trouble blooming in new ways?

I'm a professor of religious studies, yet I find it strange that religion is perhaps the realm of human experience that has the most trouble evolving and growing as theDivine Presence - the Ultimate Reality upon which religion is SUPPOSED to be based - reveals fresh truths about the spiritual journey. In the Christian tradition, it is understood that human beings are made in the image and likeness of the Creator. Doesn't it make sense that if we are meant to mirror and embody a creative force which takes enormous RISK in making a world that is continually bursting out of its buds and flowering in NEW ways, WE TOO should be reasonably expected to be supremely creative? And if the study and practice of theology is - in theory, at least - the dimension of life which is closest to the heart of a Creator-God, doesn't it follow that religion would then be expected to be the MOST creative of human endeavors rather than the LEAST? I certainly understand the wintertime impulse of religion to hunker down, preserve the truths that have already been revealed, and to cover itself over with a blanket of snow-like security. We all need seasons in our lives that are like that. But such security is eventually intended to thaw, melt, flow and nourish the breaking and flowering of NEW buds - new truths - in a burgeoning springtime of faith! Why is it, I wonder, that religion has such trouble following the natural course of the seasons of the Spirit?

Photo: Daffodils, Naropa University campus, Boulder, CO; March 21, 2014

Every Spring, we discover a new world.

"We discover a new world every time we see the earth again after it has been covered for a season with snow."

Henry David Thoreau 

Photo: Pasqueflower blooming in the snow; Lory State Park, CO; March 22, 2014

Immersed in the seamless flow of divine life.

 

Spiritual practices - especially those that involve meditative movement - help us realize that we are all part of an infinite, seamless flow of divine life.  Jesus called it "rivers of living water," while Lao Tzu referred to it as "The Great Tao."  Our seemingly solid, separate selves - while real on the relative plane - are actually not the ultimate reality.  For some people, yoga or martial arts help put them in touch with this seamless, sacred flow. For me, the discipline of hiking enables me to embody this Reality, par excellence!

Photo: Sisters Joanne and Nancy sit and talk next to Horsetooth Falls.  I'm crouching in a small cave behind the Falls!  Horsetooth Mountain Park, CO; March 22, 2014

There are always two people in every picture . . .

 

"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer."

Ansel Adams

Photo: Spring-Beauty flowers; Lory State Park, CO; March 20, 2014

Pasqueflowers are admirably prepared for fickle March weather!

 

Today the newly-bloomed pasqueflowers are enduring several inches of fresh snowfall. But after weathering many millennia of fickle March days, they are admirably prepared for it! With their fur-like coating, hollow stems and the capacity to close up at night and during inclement weather, pasqueflowers seem to treat these storms as mere "business as usual."

Photo: Pasqueflower in the snow; Lory State Park, CO; March 22, 2014

The delight of solitude overpowers me from head to foot and peace smiles even in the marrow of my bones.

 

"So much do I love this solitude that . . . delight begins to overpower me from head to foot and peace smiles even in the marrow of my bones."

Thomas Merton 

Photo: Blue ice on Lake Haiyaha; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2014

Forest fires add a shot of fertilizer!

 

On the first day of Spring, I discovered this Pasqueflower blooming in the ash and blackened needles of a burn that occurred exactly a year ago. I'm expecting a bumper crop of pasqueflowers this year because of the added shot of "fertilizer" added by all of our recent forest fires!

Photo: Pasqueflower, fire-blackened rock and ash; Lory State Park, CO; March 20, 2014

Nature is important for the preservation of moral and intellectual health.

 

"How important is a constant intercourse with nature and the contemplation of natural phenomena to the preservation of moral and intellectual health."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Pasqueflower, Lory State Park, CO; March 20, 2014

For me, landscape seems to be important for contemplation.

 

"I looked at all this [natural setting] in great tranquility, with my soul and spirit quiet.  For me, landscape seems to be important for contemplation."

Thomas Merton 

Photo: Three Subalpine Fir trees with an unnamed peak in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2014

Pasqueflowers Teach Us Much About Our Own Spirituality

 

One of the traits that allows Pasqueflowers to bloom so early in the season is the fact that they are covered with a dense layer of hair, sometimes resembling fur. Another adaptation is the hollow center of their stems, which allows metabolic heat to be concentrated within the plant, thus warming it ten degrees or more above the temperature of the surrounding air.

Sometimes this crazy, hectic, impersonal society in which we live can seem so cold, so lacking in a love that would appreciate and nurture the unique gifts that each of us has to offer. Often it tries to make us into mindless machines, incapable of even a single creative thought. However, we can survive and even thrive in this culture if we keep open the space of our inward center - the place where the Divine dwells - and clothe ourselves with spiritual practices - like meditation, prayer, journaling, solitude, hiking, community and mindfulness exercises - that keep us warm and help preserve our love and passion.

Photo: Pasqueflowers, Lory State Park, CO; March 20, 2014

The chance to find a pasqueflower is a right as inalienable as free speech

 

"The chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech."

Aldo Leopold

Photo: Yesterday - on the first day of Spring - I found the first Pasqueflowers of the season in the backcountry of Lory State Park (CO)! ; March 20, 2014

The work of creation is still going on!

 

"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, to shake up and surprise and frighten even the dullest, least sensitive observer into newness of life, out of soul-wasting apathy, to make him begin to live again . . ."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Crocuses, Naropa University, Boulder, CO; March 14, 2014. It's the first day of Spring!

Always the line of beauty is a curve.

 

"Always the line of beauty is a curve."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Subalpine Fir and unnamed peak; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2014

I like to imagine that blue is the hue of my mind when engaged in meditation.

I like to imagine that blue is the hue of my mind when engaged in meditation.  For it is then that I feel most calm, serene and centered.

Photo: Blue ice on Lake Haiyaha; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2014

The world is mind precipitated.

 

"Nature is the incarnation of a thought, and turns to a thought, again, as ice becomes water and gas. The world is mind precipitated."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo: Blue ice on Lake Haiyaha; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2014

May my thoughts and actions become just as beautiful as the alpine ice and snow of which they are a humble human expression.

Each winter, I spend quite a bit of time sitting, crawling around and lying down on mountain lakes, enthralled with the various patterns, forms and sculptures that alpine ice and snow can take.

Even more amazing is the fact that this ice-and-snow will one day circulate through my body - after it thaws, enters the adjacent stream, and makes its way to my tap.

I ask that my thoughts and actions - "lubricated' as they are by such an amazing substance - may become just as beautiful as the sacred, noble, sculptured ice of which they are a humble human expression.

Photo: Ice "waves" on Lake Hiayaha, with Hallett Peak in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2014

Ice is only another form of terrestrial love.

"Ice is only another form of terrestrial love."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Blue ice on Lake Haiyaha; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 17, 2014

In the mountains, Nature gathers her choicest treasures to draw her lovers to Her.

"Into these mountain mansions Nature has taken pains to gather her choicest treasures to draw her lovers into close and confiding communion with her."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Today I snowshoed the steep trail up to Lake Haiyaha in Rocky Mountain National Park (CO). It was amazing to find large chunks of bright blue ice heaved up onto the lake. I don't know of any other of our Front Range alpine lakes with ice this blue! (March 17, 2014)

God writes straight with crooked lines.

 

"God writes straight with crooked lines."

Attributed to St. Teresa of Avila

Photo: Snow-jeweled Ponderosa Pine, Lory State Park, CO; March 2, 2014

Mountains are great poets.

 

"Mountains are great poets, and one glance at this fine cliff scene undoes a great deal of prose, and reinstates us wronged people in our rights. All life, all society begins to get illuminated and transparent . . . Space is felt as a great thing."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo: Apache and Shoshoni Peaks, Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO; March 8, 2014

A Typical March Day!

 

Yesterday was such a typical March day!  When I took this picture of an aspen catkin budding out, the background ridge was all lit up in sunlight while a screen of light snow was falling in the middleground, making the light-quality seem ethereal.  Five minutes later, there was full sun, followed by an intense snow-bearing squall, which gave way once again to bright sunshine.  Back and forth the weather seesawed for several hours, giving me the impression that Mother Nature was experimenting with different moods, trying to see which she liked best!

Photo: Lumpy Ridge, aspen catkins, and a light screen of snow; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; March 15, 2014

Civilization represses the growth of individuality.

 

"Civilization has not much to brag about. It drives its victims in flocks, repressing the growth of individuality."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Crocus, Naropa University, Boulder, CO; March 14, 2014

How deeply with beauty is beauty overlaid!

 

"How fine Nature's methods! How deeply with beauty is beauty overlaid!"

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Crocuses, Naropa University, Boulder, CO; March 14, 2014

Nature's modes work towards beauty and joy!

"Nature's modes work towards beauty and joy."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Crocuses emerge amidst last season's Sycamore leaves outside Sycamore Hall, Naropa University, Boulder, CO; March 14, 2014

The world, not yet half made, becomes more beautiful every day.

 

 

"I used to envy the father of our race . . . but I do so no more, because I have discovered that I also live in 'creation's dawn.' The morning stars still sing together, and the world, not yet half made, becomes more beautiful every day."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Frosted Ponderosa Pine and foothills; Lory State Park, CO; March 2, 2014

Fresh beauty unfolds when perceiver and perceived engage in a love affair with one another.

So much of the world's beauty reveals itself only when we adjust our angle of view. In this case, I snowshoed out to a rock standing in the middle of a frozen lake. Because a depression in the ice had formed all around the rock, I was able to place my camera down into the 12-inch deep hole and shoot horizontally through the ice rather than the usual way - vertically, through the top. As always, fresh beauty is able to unfold when the perceiver and perceived come into a cooperative relationship where each engages in a love affair with the other.

Photo: Ice on Dream Lake; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 24, 2014

Solitude is the place where all things are One.

 

Solitude is the place where all things are One.

Photo: Bush on Brainard Lake, with Mt. Audubon and Mt. Toll in the background; Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO; March 8, 2014

It is my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes.

 

"It is my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Today I discovered a dozen or so Spring-Beauty flowers blooming not just at my wintertime meditation spot on an open hillside, but in the depths of the Ponderosa Pine forest! The discovery made me SO happy! Spring is truly on its way! Lory State Park, CO; March 13, 2014

Living is more important than getting a living.

"Living is more important than getting a living."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Fresh snow, with Arthur's Rock in the background; Lory State Park, CO; March 2, 2014

The care-laden commercial lives we lead close our eyes to the operations of God.

 

"The care-laden commercial lives we lead close our eyes to the operations of God, though openly carried on that all who will look may see."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Lenticular clouds, two Engelmann Spruce trees, and blowing snow; Long Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO; March 10, 2014

The spiritual journey takes us through regions of both desolation and beauty.

 

At times, the interior spiritual journey takes us through desolate terrain, where doubt, disappointment and suffering abound.  During these periods, we learn to practice pure faith, one that mirrors the groundless, blissful love that God manifests in creating each and every moment out of spacious No-thingness.  At other times, we move through regions of great beauty.  These teach us in what direction to place our faith, hope and love.  Eventually, of course, we come to realize that we ALWAYS  travel through desolation and beauty, both at the same time.

Photo: Joanne hiking in the Galena Burn; Lory State Park, CO; March 9, 2014.  The fire occurred on March 15, 2013.

Being is essentially "being-with."

 

 
"Being is essentially 'being-with,' communion, koinonia . . . The 'I' only awakens to itself in a 'Thou,' for being IS love. And there cannot be a solitary bliss, any more than there can be solitary being or solitary self-awareness."

Henri Le Saux,
Benedictine monk

Photo: Two sets of snowshoe tracks on Brainard Lake; Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO; March 8, 2014

We are now in the mountains and they are in us!

 

"We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us. Our flesh-and-bone tabernacle seems transparent as glass to the beauty about us, as if truly an inseparable part of it, thrilling with the air and trees, streams and rocks, in the waves of the sun - a part of all nature, neither old nor young, sick nor well, but immortal."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photo: Windstorm near Long Lake; Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO; March 10, 2014

A distant mountain range is a constant elevating influence.

 

"I doubt if in the landscape there can be anything finer than a distant mountain-range.  They are a constant elevating influence."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Red rock on Red Rock Lake; Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO; March 10, 2014

This life is not for complaint, but for satisfaction.

 

"This life is not for complaint, but for satisfaction."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Lichen rock and redrock ridge; Lory State Park, CO; March 9, 2014

The March air is filled with a vibrant sense of WAITING.

 

The extended evening light brought about by the shift to Daylight Savings Time always feels to me as though IT is the real Spring Equinox. Yesterday's hike brought highs in the low 70s. I had the sense - as I often do this time of year - that everything in the landscape is patiently WAITING for the cue to begin budding, leafing and blooming. With that waiting comes a vibrant stillness, one that is filled with a sense of radiant hope and expectation. Tomorrow, we are supposed to receive several more inches of snow. The weather will perhaps seesaw like this for a few more weeks. But still, the sense of waiting permeates the air, bringing with it an anticipation of the upcoming season's backpacking trips, extended hikes, and vacation time.

Photo: Rose Hips and red cliffs; Lory State Park, CO; March 9, 2014

Our culture is geared to help us evade the inner, silent self.

 

"There is a silent self within us whose presence is disturbing precisely because it is so silent: it CAN'T be spoken.  It has to remain silent.  To articulate it, to verbalize it, is to tamper with it, and in some ways to destroy it.  Now let us frankly face the fact that our culture is one which is geared in many ways to help us evade any need to face this inner, silent self.  We live in a state of constant semi-attention to the sound of voices, music, traffic, or the generalized noise of what goes on around us all the time.  This keeps us immersed in a flood of racket and words, a diffuse medium in which our consciousness is half diluted . . ."

Thomas Merton 

Photo: Willow bush on Brainard Lake, with Mt. Audubon and Mt. Toll in the background; Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO; March 8, 2014

All of us need Native American cultures to remain vibrant and strong.

 

I'm convinced that unless our own Native American cultures and languages remain vibrant and strong, none of us will survive for long on this Earth. After all, it was the Indigenous Peoples who for generations prayed and did ceremony to bless the earth, water and sky, and who understood that humanity and the natural world are a part of a Greater Whole. It seems to me that one of the most important tasks of the present time is to make sure the various tribal Nations survive and thrive, and also that the rest of us set out to learn - in ways that are respectful - whatever they want to teach us about living in harmony with the land and finding our selves rooted in Nature. The fact that our current industrial consumer culture is in the process of polluting the land, air and water and altering the climate in irrevocable ways is ample evidence of the fact that the wisdom of Native Peoples is desperately needed.

Photo: Paiute Peak, Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO; March 8, 2014. Some of the other mountains in this wilderness are named "Arapaho," "Navajo," "Apache," "Shoshoni," "Pawnee," "Ogalalla," "Arikaree," "Kiowa," "Hiamonvi," "Satanta," and "Watanga" peaks.

The idea that Nature is a mental construct is the product of a purely indoor philosophy!

 

"In metaphysics, the notion that earth and all that's on it is a mental construct is the product of people who spend their lives inside rooms.  It is an indoor philosophy."

Edward Abbey

Photo: Wild Plum bush covered in snow, with Arthur's Rock in the background; Lory State Park, CO; March 2, 2014

In the inmost "I" my own solitude meets the solitude of every other person in the solitude of God.

 

"The only way to find solitude is by hunger and thirst and sorrow and poverty and desire . . . This is a country whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. You do not find it by traveling but by standing still . . . , for in the inmost 'I' my own solitude meets the solitude of every other person in the solitude of God."

Thomas Merton

Photo: Solitary Ponderosa Pine, with sandstone cliffs behind; Lory State Park, CO; February 13, 2014

Epitaph for a gravestone: "No comment"

 

"Epitaph for a gravestone: "No comment"

Edward Abbey  

Photo: Lichen and rocks; Lory State Park, CO; February 13, 2014

Language needs intervals of silence if it is to retain its meaning.

 

"For language to have meaning, there must be intervals of silence somewhere, to divide word from word and utterance from utterance.  The one who retires into silence does not necessarily hate language.  Perhaps it is love and respect for language which impose silence on us.  For the love of God is not heard in words unless it is heard, both before and after the words are spoken, in silence."

Thomas Merton   

Photo: Snow and ice patterns on Dream Lake; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; February 24, 2014