We tend to be exclusively preoccupied with the human world only, and neglect the grandeur of the natural world.

 

"Most of us have no more AWARENESS of the grandeur, beauty, mystery, complexity, vitality, form and infinite possibilities of the world of earth and space, than the ant has of the landscape beyond the denuded perimeter of his anthill.  Why?  Because most of us are exclusively preoccupied with the human sphere only - or not even that much - obsessed with the interhuman, the personal, the subjective region . . ."

Edward Abbey

Photo: Sunset over Escalante Canyon, Escalante - Grand Staircase National Monument, UT; May 25, 2014

Each generation is a custodian rather than the owner of its resources.

"Our ideals, laws and customs should be based on the proposition that each generation, in turn, becomes the custodian rather than the absolute owner of our resources and each generation has the obligation to pass this inheritance on to the future."

Charles A. Lindbergh,
Aviator, inventor, explorer, and social activist

Photo: Golden Banner and Indian Paintbrush, with Copeland Mountain in the background; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 23, 2014

Love the earth as you would love yourself.

 

"Love the earth as you would love yourself."

John Denver 

Photo: Globeflower blooms growing in a stream; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO;

June 23, 2014

We must leave future generations a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning.

"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology.  We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it."

Lyndon Baines Johnson 

Photo: Mule Deer at sunrise, Badlands National Park, SD; May 17, 2014

In environmental matters, future generations do not have a vote.

 

"The irony of the matter [regarding the environment] is that the future generations do not have a vote. In effect, we hold their proxy * ."

Charles J. Hitch,
past president, University of California

* "Proxy" means "the authority to represent someone else, especially in voting."

Photo: Aspen trees and Little Marvine Peaks; Ripple Creek Pass, Flattops Wilderness Area, CO; June 13, 2014

Only one thing is needed.

 

"You are anxious and disturbed about many things.  But only one thing is needed."

Jesus,
Luke 10:42

Photo: Near sunset, Badlands National Park, SD; May 16, 2014

Arthur Carhart's Wilderness Idea

 

“If we are to have broad-thinking men and women of high mentality, of good physique and with a true perspective on life, we must allow our populace a communion with nature in areas of more or less wilderness condition.”

Arthur Carhart

Carhart was a Forest Service official tasked with surveying the land around Trapper's Lake for road and home development.  Instead, he realized the area was so beautiful that it needed to be preserved for public use.  Thus was born the wilderness concept within the U.S. Forest Service, and Trapper's Lake was the first Forest Service area to be set aside for wilderness purposes in the early 1920s.

Photo: Sunset on Trapper's Lake, Flattops Wilderness Area, CO; June 14, 2014

Always consider the impact of your decisions on the next seven generations

 

"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

from The Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

Photo: Yellow Vetch and one of the Pawnee Buttes; Weld County, CO; June 16, 2014

We Borrow the World from Our Children

 

"A true conservationist is a person who knows that the world is not given by his parents but borrowed from his children."

John James Audubon

Photo: Globeflowers, Ouzel Lake Trail, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 23, 2014

The Physical Sensations Associated with a Thought are More Important Than the Content of the Thought, No Matter How Right We Think It Is!

 

Yesterday I had an extended retreat up in the mountains. One of the things I wrestled with is the tendency that I - and all of us - have to constrict around our views of what is right and ethical. In my case, I'm currently wrestling with an issue I consider a no-brainer - gay marriage as an inalienable right - and with those family members who oppose it. This issue is especially poignant right now because my youngest daughter, who is lesbian, is getting married this weekend. For me, gay marriage is a matter of social justice - the natural outcome of the women's movement and civil rights movements.

However, the natural tendency is to CONSTRICT around my convictions rather than let them flow through me, work for justice, and then LET GO. I've discovered, in fact, that any time I obsess over what I'm convinced is right, this obsession - together with the sense of leaden solidity and tightness it brings - is actually a manifestation of the false self. Now - at age 55 - momentary elevated blood pressure is a major way my body has of telling me to STOP HANGING ON so tightly to what I'm convinced is right. After all, the true self - rooted as it is in God and in Sophia Wisdom - is vast, expansive, flowing and adaptable. It is also transparent rather than solid or leaden. So the lesson for me on my mountain retreat is this - it's OK to work for social justice issues, but I must remember this is not MY fight. Instead, it is a concern that belongs to the Divine who is present - in spacious, vast, transparent, non-egoic love - within me. I am meant merely to be a hollow bone. It's as though my life involves a working for change, but - surprise! - there is actually NO-ONE doing the work! No solid self, that is In other words, I must let go and be transparent, vast and expansive like the mountain landscape!

What I realized is this: I mustn't be tricked into focusing exclusively on the CONTENT of a thought or emotion, no matter how right I think it is. For if the thought or emotion is associated with a sense of constriction, tightness, solidity and angst, it is unfortunately being filtered through the false self! Besides - and this is important - it is actually GOD who is hiding within those with whom I disagree. God the Trickster, that is. And this God - present IN FULL within the person with whom I'm having a disagreement - is constantly working to teach me how to have a conviction, let go, become spacious and transparent, and FLOW!

Photo: Indian Paintbrush and Golden Banner, with Copeland Mountain in the background; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 23, 2014

The plants want us to love them!

 

"Every morning, arising from the death of sleep, the happy plants . . . seem to be shouting, 'Awake, awake, rejoice, rejoice, come love us and join in our song.  Come!  Come!' "

The Contemplative John Muir

The snow is finally beginning to melt around the subalpine lakes, and fresh wildflowers are springing up!

Photos: (Top) Marsh-marigolds and one Globeflower; (Bottom) Alpine Bog Laurel; Both photos have Copeland Mountain and Ouzel Lake as backdrops; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 23, 2014

On the alpine tundra right now, it feels like a festival is going on!

 

On the alpine tundra right now, it feels like a festival is going on.  Last September's torrential rains and the abundance of snow we had this past winter are fostering an amazing wildflower display.

I hope some of you will make it up above treeline to be a part of the celebration!

Photos: (L) Alpine Candytuft; (R Top) Alpine Forget-Me-Not; (R Bottom) Western Wallflower; All three photos taken on the ridge above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow / Rawah Range, CO; June 20, 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

 

Photos: Snow Buttercups, Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow / Rawah Range, CO June 20, 2014

Pasqueflowers at 11,500 Feet

 

Just above Montgomery Pass - above treeline -  I came across a whole meadow of Pasqueflowers!  

They first started coming into bloom at 7,000 feet on March 20th, and now are flowering in the alpine tundra on June 20th.  What a nice long period to be able to encounter one of my favorite wildflowers!

Photos: Pasqueflowers blooming at 11,500 feet; Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow / Rawah Range, CO; June 20, 2014

The Advantages and Disadvantages of City Life

Today I spent the day in the inner city - in downtown Denver. I can't help but wonder: were people meant to live like rats crowded together in a cage? Were we intended to have constant noise - music blaring, sirens screeching, and horns honking from impatient drivers? Were we meant to live surrounded by concrete? On the other hand, I know it would be a bad thing if we were all spread out across the landscape. I suppose greenbelts and parks serve as "Nature" for people who live in the city. And I'm also aware that there is a greater diversity of people in a city, a fact that can foster more of a sense of community among those who are like-minded. I also understand that living in a place where mass transit and bicycle-riding are encouraged is a good thing, in terms of reducing our carbon footprint, air pollution and fossil fuel usage. I guess we all have our callings: some are intended for city life, while others of us need wilderness!

Photo: The Park Range and North Park from Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow / Rawah Range, CO; June 20, 2014

Every Creature is an Explosion of Divinity!

Today I hiked two miles uphill in solid snow. When I reached treeline, the snow eased up and the meadows were busting full with thousands of Snow Buttercup blooms. What an intoxicatingly beautiful sight! I don't believe I've ever seen so many in one place. As I meandered through the golden meadows, I was reminded of a line in a Rilke poem. Speaking to a rose, he says: "You were rich enough to be yourself a HUNDRED TIMES in just one flower." 

In the presence of such an abundance of buttercups, I realized that EVERY creature has such a surplus of sacredness that we can realistically understand it to be "a hundred times itself." In other words, every being is an indefinable EXPLOSION of divinity!

Photos: Snow Buttercups on Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains / Rawah Range, CO; June 20, 2014

Alpine Forget-Me-Nots Encourage Us to Remain United to the Ground of Being

Alpine Forget-Me-Not thrives in the harsh climate above treeline by hugging the ground, where the temperature can be up to 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding air.  This cushion plant also contains a multitude of hairs that trap heat and form a protective layer against the desiccating winds. The lesson for me is that I need to stay united to the Ground of Being present within the Silence residing at my core if I want to survive the onslaughts of our corporate-industrial society's madness and impersonal ways.

Photos: Alpine Forget-Me-Not; near Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 15, 2014

Birds, insects and flowers all tell a deep summer joy.

"Birds, insects and flowers all in their own way tell a deep summer joy."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photos: (Top) Shrubby Evening-Primrose; (Bottom) Some sort of saxifrage?; Pawnee Buttes, CO; June 16, 2014

Wilderness is a spiritual necessity, an antidote to the high pressure of modern life.

"Wilderness to the people of America is a spiritual necessity, an antidote to the high pressure of modern life, a means of regaining serenity and equilibrium . . . It gives them perspective and a sense of oneness with mountains, forests, or waters . . . Its real function will always be as a spiritual backlog in the high speed mechanical world in which we live."

Sigurd F. Olson
 

Photos: (Top) Glacier Lily at Ripple Creek Pass, and (Bottom) Vaughn Lake; both in Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 15, 2014

The Mountain's Got a Spirit

 

"It is very important that we be connected to the elements as a human race.  As a Native person, I am connected to these elements, because I can hear their voices.  I hear all their songs and everything else.  I'm asking each thing to continue on in a good way.  I have to do something so that all of the elements continue on . . .  For example, I bless the mountain . . . I ask the Mountain to continue to have a voice, to have songs . . . If the mountain doesn't have a voice, then we as a people are not going to have a voice pretty quick.  All the living things are not going to have any voice, because the mountain is where the voice comes from.  The mountain is where the people are, the little people up there, the mountain people, as we call them, or the rock people - they're up there listening to us.  They're the ones we have to pray to; they're the ones who take care of the mountain . . . We have to ask what's out there, the rocks, the land, the living things, to unite together; everything has to work together.  Long ago, the land, the mountains, used to have more voice, a clearer voice, clearer than what it is today.  The land, the rocks, they used to continue to tell us over and over again to take care of them and to ask us to do those things.  But today, we're lost, and I think it's the reason we're not concerned with anything; we just look at a mountain as if it's just there, nothing more.  But the mountain's got a life to it.  Everything's got a spirit; the mountain's got a spirit, and all the living things on the mountain have got a spirit . . . One of the reasons why their voice is not clear and loud anymore is because we haven't been taking care of them."

Corbin Harney, Western Shoshone Elder

Photo: Sunset alpenglow on Skinny Fish Lake; Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 13, 2014

Hiding in God from the Critical Ego-Self

 

Isn't  this amazing?  Today I hiked up to my foothills meditation retreat spot, and found this Gaillardia flower (also called Indian Blanketflower) with its companion moth.  Notice that the moth is situated in such a way that the red wings lie on the red part of the flower, while its yellow head lies on the yellow part of the flower.  I have never found this type of moth anywhere but on a Gaillardia flower!

To me, this principle of camouflage speaks of the need we all have to hide ourselves from the self-castigating ego-self - with its incessant critical biases - by blending in and becoming united to the Larger Whole - that is, to the Divine Presence who dwells within us and who is the vast, sky-like presence in whom all things dwell.  Only when we become invisible to the ego-self by discovering a deeper identity will we find true peace and rest!

Photo: Gaillardia flower and moth; Lory State Park, CO; June 18, 2014

There will always be a need for those of us who are societal misfits. Awkward on one level, we provide our deepest gifts to others when in solitude!

Paradoxically, when I'm in solitude, I experience the deepest possible communion with people. There, my core and their core are absolutely one. But when I'm interacting with people in daily life, things often seem amiss. I'm either too sensitive or not sensitive enough. I ask questions in the wrong way, which often makes people feel intruded upon. Then, when I withdraw in order to give them their space, they ask if something is wrong. If people are overly intense and serious, I suddenly become the trickster, and come off as silly and insincere. However, if people are more lighthearted, I then seem too intense by comparison, too "spiritual." When I'm in the big city, watch out! I generally feel depressed and out of sorts, a rather bothersome trait. On the other hand, I love to give compliments, but when I offer them - especially to people of the opposite sex - they often mistakenly think I'm trying to "get" something from them. In reality, I simply enjoy giving compliments as a worthy end in itself. But it's impossible to state this principle to another person without making them feel uncomfortable. In my ideal world, everyone could offer compliments - even physical compliments - without anyone feeling that something was expected of them. After all, in our deepest core, we are ALL hungry for affirmation! Fortunately, those who love me accept my rather unconventional personality, warts and all. But when I'm in solitude, I suddenly blossom. It is there that I experience the most intimate connection with people. There, the core of my being interfuses with the core of everyone else. It is there that I can pray for people, offer them my blessing, and commune with them on the deepest level. I suppose there will always be a need for those of us who are "misfits" in society. Clumsy on the level of social interaction, we will always be needed to provide a deeper communion when in solitude. Indeed, that is what most of the monks and contemplatives I know are like, and I guess I - for good or for ill - am like that, too!

Photo: Lichen rock, with one of the Pawnee Buttes in the distance; Weld County, CO; June 16, 2014

In Solitude, I Am Least Alone

 

When I'm with people, I often experience loneliness. For there, I feel unable to meet up to people's expectations. However, when I am in solitude, especially when immersed within a natural setting, I don't feel lonely at all. For there I realize my union with both the masculine Great Beyond and with the feminine Earth - the Web of Life. In solitude, I understand my place in the universe, and this realization makes me feel profoundly fulfilled and at peace.

Photo: Western Wallflower and the Pawnee Buttes; Weld County, CO; June 16, 2014

The Gifts of Silence and Solitude

 

 While camped alone on Skinny Fish Lake this past weekend, I had a lot of time to listen to the silence - to the breeze, the bird calls, the creaking of the trees, and to my own heart. I realized then that ultimately, there is only one true reality in life: the love affair that occurs between the masculine Great Beyond and the feminine Web of Life. Then, of course, there is me, and I am simply the swinging door that opens back and forth onto these Two, bringing them together into greater and greater union. In fact, I am simply the way in which the Divine - in both of Its aspects - knows and celebrates Itself within a human mind and heart. Even other people, I realized this past weekend, are simply the Divine in hiding - God, we might say, learning through human trial and error, momentarily forgetting who he is as he loses himself in the challenges of life, yet waking up whenever we experience an epiphany. Ultimately, I realized, all things melt into divine bliss - into that deep, deep sense of contentment that is so vividly present in the silence. And it is the natural world, I've discovered, that puts me in touch with that Silence like nothing else can.

Photo: The view from my backpacker's campsite, just recently emerged from the snow; Skinny Fish Lake, Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 13, 2014

Has Our Technologic Society Lost Its Soul?

 

You can easily tell that Pawnee Buttes is a wonderful place, right? It's wild, spacious, beautiful, sacred - the perfect landscape to experience the union between the Great Spirit and Mother Earth.

However, if you turn your body just 90 degrees from the first scene, you are immediately confronted by the setting captured in the second picture, located less than a half mile away.

Fifteen years ago, the silence was so intense you could almost taste it. Now, one hears the constant hum of machinery, the beep-beep-beep of construction equipment, and - in the evening - one can see the flames of the natural gas stacks flaring up right near the buttes. Fracking, natural gas and oil exploration, etc., now litter the entire area. In addition, a long line of wind turbines extends on the ridge just behind the buttes. In fact, because Weld County (and much of eastern Colorado) is going through such an energy boom, it is currently seeking to secede from the rest of the state (which the eastern counties consider too "liberal") and form their own separate state.

I'm not against technology; after all, the camera I've used to record these images and the computer I'm currently typing at were both made in a factory. And both used plastics, which are derived in part from oil. But is there a reason why the energy boom HAS to occur right next to a sacred place such as this? And what about technology? Has it lost its soul? What values have we lost in the process? I would especially appreciate hearing what some of my Native friends have to say about this. What values have we begun to lose in our quest to live technology-rich but spirituality-poor lives?

Photo: Pawnee Buttes and Western Wallflower under a vast sky, next to a natural gas / oil site less than a half-mile away. Weld County, CO; June 16, 2014

Everything in the mountains is dancing with a wild summer joy!

"Warm, sunny days thrill plants and animals and rocks alike, making sap and blood flow fast, and making every particle of the crystal mountains throb and swirl and dance in glad accord like star-dust . . . Everything kept in joyful rhythmic motion in the pulses of Nature's big heart."

The Contemplative John Muir

It's amazing how much snow is yet to melt up in the high country this season. It seems the spring storms were especially heavy. Up above the trees, the snow buttercups are coming up by the thousands right now, and they make for a magnificent display!

Photo: Snow Buttercups near Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 15, 2014

A shift in perspective can change disappointment into wonder and gratefulness.

It's amazing sometimes how a shift in perspective can change something seemingly disappointing into wonder and gratefulness. At Pawnee Buttes yesterday, I was amazed at the large expanses of feathery grasses with purple tops, all glinting in the evening sun. At first, I was a bit disappointed that they wouldn't stop blowing in the breeze. I couldn't make them hold still long enough to get a clear shot. That's when I realized that the blurred effect actually gave the grasses the appearance of purple smoke. Once I discovered that, I began to REVEL in the wind!

Photo: One of the Pawnee Buttes, with Prairie Wallflower and grasses; Pawnee National Grassland, CO; June 16, 2014

God is the Horizon of Being

Today I drove out to Pawnee Buttes and hiked the trail. The spacious quality of the landscape encouraged me to look perpetually beyond - toward the horizon. It is for good reason that German theologian Karl Rahner often referred to God as the "Horizon of Being." May we ever travel the endless spiritual journey both now and for eternity!

Photo: Shrubby Evening-Primrose and one of the Pawnee Buttes jutting up in the distance; Pawnee National Grassland, CO; June 16, 2014

Our emotional drama melts in the glow of the Spirit that is reflected in a still mind and heart.

What does all of the emotional drama we create mean in the context of the eternal rhythms of Nature? Not very much. A lot of the societal angst we feel melts away in the glow of the Spirit that is reflected in a mind and heart tranquilized in the rich silence of the natural world.

Photo: Sunset on Trapper's Lake, Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 14, 2014

An Idyllic Place to Camp!

 

"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

While this statement may not be true literally - especially since not everyone is inclined to camp - it IS true if we substitute the word "Nature" for "camp."

I went backpacking this past weekend in the Flattops WIlderness, and ended up camping on Skinny Fish Lake. I can't imagine a more idyllic spot to set up a tent - on a peninsula of land with water on on sides, the constant sound of ducks socializing on the lake,

mushrooms pushing up through the snowbanks,

thousands of frogs singing in a nearby pond, orange alpenglow radiating from the peaks at
sunset, and a nearly-full moon shining right through the tent window. What a wonderful place to regain one's center!

Photos: (Top) My tent set up at Skinny Fish Lake; (Middle); ducks swimming on the lake;  (Bottom); a mushroom pushing up through the snow; Flattops Wilderness, CO; June 14, 2014

Our real Father is Tunkashila, and our real Mother is the Earth.

 

"We have a biological father and mother, but our real Father is Tunkashila [Creator] and our real Mother is the Earth."

Wallace Black Elk,
Lakota Spiritual Leader

Photo: The Badlands at sunrise; Badlands National Park, SD; May 17, 2014

Tasting the Wisdom of Nature

 

I can't get enough of the amazing patterns of desert varnish that occur in the redrock deserts of the American Southwest. I believe this is the case because I experience the rock so viscerally - or, more accurately - within my palate and throat. It's a sort of synaesthesia, where one sense is connected to another. In this case, the sight of the rock leads to a sensation of taste in my throat. This makes sense to me, since the varnish stripes look so much like drizzles of chocolate syrup. It also corresponds to what the early Christian mystics called "the spiritual senses." They spoke often of "tasting" the wisdom contained in the biblical scriptures during times of lectio divina, or sacred reading. The fact that the Latin word for wisdom - "sapientia," as in "Homo sapiens" - is related to the word "sapor," or taste, supports this association of reading and taste. In addition, the same writers believed that Nature is the second scripture, and that it is just as important as the Bible. Indeed, I find that the rock really does contain wisdom, one that leads me to become more solid in my bearing and attitude toward life, yet also to become more receptive in a positive way to the weathering effects of life. But this wisdom isn't just cerebral. It's something I can actually taste!

Photos: Desert Varnish, Escalante - Grand Staircase National Monument, UT; May 25, 2014

What an abundance of Spring wildflowers!

I've never come across so many flowers in the meadows of Moraine Park as I've seen this June! I would attribute this in part to the torrential rains we received last September, and to this winter's abundant snowfall. However, this is also one of the areas that burned in the Fern Lake Fire several years ago, so the shot of nutrients produced by that fire is surely another factor. In any case, the area is incredibly beautiful!

Photo: Wild Iris and Golden Banner; Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 11, 2014