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.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Ego is the best fuel for enlightenment!


 
"The ego is the ideal fuel that is exciting to burn, the best fuel that could be found in the whole universe, . . . the only fuel for wisdom . . . In fact, the very idea of enlightenment exists because of ego - because there is a contrast. Without ego there wouldn't be the very notion of enlightenment at all. You don't get rid of your ego at all. Without ego you cannot attain enlightenment, so you have to make friends with ego. You don't want to get rid of ego. That's the whole point. You don't try to get rid of ego at all - but you don't try to maintain ego either."

Chogyam Trungpa,
Tibetan rinpoche


Photo: A Pasqueflower glows next to a burnt, sap-exuding Ponderosa pine trunk; Hewlett Burn, Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 3, 2014


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