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.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Crystallizations of the flow of spiritual life in forms and insights are beautiful AND momentary!


On my way home from the Snowmass retreat, I took a hike next to this mountain stream. I found the contrast between the flowing cascades and the adjacent icicles so incredibly beautiful! I knew also that there is a heat wave coming, and that the icicles would be gone within a few days. The setting reminded me that the spiritual life is always a spontaneous flow of revelation. Jesus once called it "rivers of living water." The various religious traditions then freeze that flow, allowing it to crystallize in beautiful forms and insights that can be meditated upon and appreciated from all angles. However, those crystallizations are meant eventually to melt, to flow freely, and then to recrystallize in new forms, which again will melt and enter the flow of the Spirit. May we all find the grace to appreciate both the ceaseless, seamless flow of revelation, AND its momentary crystallizations, for the benefit of all beings!

Photo: Icicles next to Copeland Falls; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; April 28, 2014

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