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, October 31, 2014

Let us listen for the voice of benevolent landscape spirits this Halloween



Today is Halloween, the time when the veil is thinnest been THIS world and the SPIRIT world. The ancient Celts called it Samhain Eve, the liminal space between summer and winter - which, of course - is precisely what the month of November is.

This Halloween, I would invite us to remain open to the communication coming not so much from PEOPLE who have passed on, but from the benevolent NATURE spirits inhabiting the landscapes where we live
.



On his wilderness adventures, John Muir found close companionship, as he put it, with "rock and water spirits," with “plant people,” “insect people,” and other landscape beings. Taking a passage from the biblical Book of Hebrews which speaks of the “cloud of witnesses” that accompanies and brings encouragement to a living person of faith, Muir changed the meaning to suit his own experience. For although the scriptural author was referring to men and women of faith who had died and passed on to the next life, Muir found this cloud of witnesses in meadows full of flowers, in swarms of insects, in alpine rockpiles, and among a multitude of wild streams. For him, all of these creatures were friends, sent by God to nurture him. In fact, he even found friendship in the stars. As he once put it, “You . . . eat your crust and lie down in the mighty solitude. The great stars shine over the cliffs, one constellation after another, sweeping across from peak to peak, looking down, wondrous, near and clear, seemingly conscious and returning your gaze.”

The prophet Elijah once heard the Great Mystery speak to him in a “still, small voice” while he was seeking guidance in the desert (see 1 Kings 19:12). Similarly, Muir heard this voice reverberating in all of the many landscape features – especially mountains – that he encountered on his wilderness journeys. For example, while climbing one summer day in the Sierra, he said of the mountains that “Many still, small voices . . . are calling, ‘Come higher.’ ”

The Christian tradition refers to this still, small voice as that of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus spoke of the “Holy Ghost” as a divine companion who would guide and comfort his disciples, so Muir discovered God’s Spirit speaking in what he called “the Holy Ghosts of glaciers” which he studied in the high country of Yosemite. In fact, he viewed even transformative wilderness experiences as inhabited by "the Holy Ghost." As he put it, “Visions like these . . . saturate every fibre of the body and soul, dwelling in us and with us, like holy spirits . . .”

For Muir, it made sense to say that human beings are not the only creatures with whom one can have a personal relationship. He believed that because both God and the feminine Earth are personal, it makes sense that their personalities would transfer in turn to all of their creatures, including plants, animals, glaciers and mountains. As he put it, “The whole wilderness seems to be alive and familiar, full of humanity. The very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly. No wonder, when we consider that we all have the same Father and Mother.”

This Halloween, may we be open in a special way to the landscape spirits present all around us who want to help us along on our journey through life!



Photos: (Top) "Fingers" of rock jutting up through the mist, Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014; (Middle) Hallett Peak appearing through the fog, Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014; (Bottom) Cottonwood trees glowing in last light, with The Devil's Backbone looming in the background, near Loveland, CO, October 30, 2014


To get these glorious works of God into yourself - that's the great thing!


"To get these glorious works of God into yourself - that's the great thing; not to write about them."

The Contemplative John Muir


Photos: (Top) Ash leaf and the Flatirons, Boulder, CO, October 30, 2014; (Middle) Sunset on Bellvue Dome and Watson Lake, Bellvue, CO, October 28, 2014; (Bottom) Hallett Peak, Emerald Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014

Thursday, October 30, 2014

God's holy light makes all divine!


"God's holy light makes all divine."

The Contemplative John Muir



Photos: (Top) Snag and alpenglow on Long's Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, September 20, 2014; (Middle) Fields, Irrigator, Cottonwoods, and the Devil's Backbone, near Loveland, CO, October 27, 2014; (Bottom) Burned Juniper, with last light on rocky cliffs, Hewlett Burn, Poudre Canyon, CO, October 25, 2014



Baptized in the beauty of God's mountains



"Heaven knows that John the Baptist was not more eager to get all his fellows sinners into the Jordan than I to baptize all mine in the beauty of God's mountains."

The Contemplative John Muir





 

Photos: (Top) Bellvue Dome and Watson Lake at sunset, Bellvue, CO, October 28, 2014; (Middle) Cottonwoods and foothills right across the street from my house, Larimer County, CO, October 26, 20014; (Bottom) Hallett Peak and Dream Lake's outlet stream, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 24, 2014


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Who has not felt the urge to throw some tea and bread in an old sack and jump over the back fence?



"Who has not felt the urge to throw some tea and bread in an old sack and jump over the back fence? . . .




"Who wouldn't be a mountaineer? Up here all the world's prizes seem nothing."

The Contemplative John Muir




Photos: (Top) Bellvue Dome and Watson Lake at sunset, Bellvue, CO, October 28, 2014; (Middle) Cottonwoods, farm trucks, and Greyrock, Bellvue, CO, October 28, 2014; (Bottom) Hallett Peak from Nymph Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014. All three of these scenes are near my home.

That grand old poem called Winter is 'round again . . .



"That grand old poem called Winter is 'round again . . . Nature loves this rhyme so well that she never tires of repeating it . . . What a poem!  An epic in blank verse, enriched with a million tinkling rhymes. It is solid beauty."

Henry David Thoreau

 



Photos: (Top) Last light, near Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014; (Middle) Limber Pine and Hallett Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014; (Bottom) Cottonwoods and Greyrock, near Bellvue, CO, October 23, 2014



Tuesday, October 28, 2014

A root is a flower that disdains fame.



"A root is a flower that disdains fame."

 Khalil Gibran,
"Sand and Foam"


Photo: A  leaf rests on a large Cottonwood root on the shore of Horsetooth Reservoir, Larimer County, CO, October 21, 2014

The transition between Autumn and Winter serves as an entry into a more contemplative inner space.


I find the transition between Autumn and Spring both challenging and enriching.  It is difficult to let go of the outdoor exploration mindset that accompanies Summer and Fall, but with Winter, the capacity to move within one's innermost being becomes enhanced.


 


Even the fact that we have to "bundle up" - as I did on my hike yesterday - serves as an encouragement to allow our deepest self to be embraced by the Divine.  It is during this time that the experience of being "held" and "surrounded" by the dark and intimate presence of our Source during the practice of contemplative prayer comes to the fore.





Photos: (Top) Reflections of golden Cottonwoods on Watson Lake, Bellvue, CO, October 23, 2014; (Middle and Bottom) A blustery day at Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014

Beauty is the harmony of contrasts.

"Beauty is the harmony of contrasts."

Alfred North Whitehead,
20th century philosopher

Today was amazing!  I started out on the Plains at 5,000 feet with golden Cottonwoods glowing next to rock formations in silhouetted in shadow.  The temperature was about 50 degrees. Then, hiking up to a lake at 9,700 feet, I found floating green water lily leaves with snow glistening in the trees and on the peaks.



Finally, at 10,100 feet, I reached a lake where the conditions were wintry, with snow blowing all around and the wind chill hovering near zero.  How amazing it is to live in a place where so many different environments abound!




Photos: (Top) A farmer's fields, an irrigator, Cottonwoods glowing, and the Devil's Backbone, near Loveland, CO; (Middle) Waterlily leaf on Nymph Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; (Bottom) Blustery winds buffet a Limber Pine, with Hallett Peak looming in the background, Emerald Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.  All three photos were taken on October 27, 2014

Monday, October 27, 2014

The purpose of meaningful work is to highlight the awe and wonder of the cosmos.


On Friday night, a group of us from six different spiritual traditions sat on a panel whose topic was "Work and the Spiritual Journey." In preparing for the panel, I realized that for me, one of the major goals of meaningful work - from a spiritual perspective - is to increase the sense of awe and wonder in the world.



After all, our purpose on this Earth is to mirror back to our Source the amazing beauty and goodness of the cosmos. As a Sufi might say, we are the pupil through which the Beloved gazes on the world's splendor. For me, photography is a major way that I can contribute to this experience of awe and wonder!




Photos: (Top) Willows, Snowy Range, WY, October 14, 2014; (Middle) Lichen-covered rocks, Engelmann Spruce, and Sugarloaf Mountain, Snowy Range, WY, October 14, 2014; (Bottom) Aspens and snow-frosted hills, Poudre Canyon, near Fort Collins, CO, October 13, 2014

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.



"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Leonardo da Vinci 





Photos: Cottonwoods, cliffs, and the Poudre River, near Fort Collins, CO, October 25, 2014



Our lives are an embodiment of sacred rivers!



"Out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water."

Jesus

When we view our lives as human expressions of rivers - which is easy to do, especially when our very blood is composed of the water arising from a local water source - then we don't take too seriously any of our mental or emotional states.




Whether feeling calm or turbulent, we realize that liberation comes from identifying with the seamless flow of the river itself, which in the case of our spiritual Source, has neither beginning nor end!





Photos: Cottonwoods flame along the Cache la Poudre River, near Fort Collins, CO, October 25, 2014

Saturday, October 25, 2014

The virtue which constitutes a thing beautiful is a certain cosmical quality.



"The new virtue which constitutes a thing beautiful is a certain cosmical quality, or a power to suggest relation to the whole world, and so lift the object out of a pitiful individuality.




"Every natural feature . . . has in it something which is not private, but universal, speaks of that central benefit which is the soul of Nature, and thereby is beautiful."

Ralph Waldo Emerson





Photos: (Top) Greyrock, field and Cottonwood, Bellvue, CO, October 23, 2014; (Middle) Cottonwoods and hills, Livermore, CO, October 13, 2014; (Bottom) Bellvue Dome, field, deer, and Cottonwoods, Bellvue, CO, October 15, 2014

Friday, October 24, 2014

Each of us is meant to serve as a unique mirror for the beauty of the Creator!


The ultimate reason for our lives here on Earth is, I believe, to mirror the beauty of the Cosmos back to Itself in new and surprising ways.  Contrary to what our society tells us, individuality is not an end in itself.  Rather, our individuality is meant to put us in touch with the unique ways in which we are each called to serve as a mirror of the Divine.

 

It's as though the Creator begins by setting up the world-mirror, and then WE each appear - miraculously! - as an image in that mirror, making new gestures that the Creator never made, and speaking fresh and surprising "words" that the Creator never spoke!  Imagine standing in front of your bedroom mirror, and discovering - surprise! - that your mirror-image suddenly takes on a life of its own and begins to flirt with you!  In the grand scheme of things, that's exactly what each of us is called to do :)




Photos: (Top) Bellvue Dome and golden Cottonwoods reflected in Watson Lake, Bellvue, CO,  (Middle) Rabbitbrush (white), Wild Plum (orange) and Fremont Cottonwood (yellow) stand out against a backdrop of red cliffs, near Livermore, CO; (Bottom) Cottonwoods reflected in Watson Lake, Bellvue, CO.  All three photos were taken on October 23, 2014

Our major purpose here on Earth is to experience a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty of life's beauty.


Our major purpose here on Earth is to experience a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty of life's beauty, and then to release that sense to God, thereby enriching the Divine Life immeasureably.  For we are the eye through which Divinity sees itself in the mirror of the world.





Photos: (Top) Sunset at Vedauwoo Natural Area, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY, October 14, 2014;(Middle) Aspens in Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 18, 2014; (Bottom) Aspen leaves glowing in last light with Horsetooth Rock in the background, Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO, October 22, 2014




Thursday, October 23, 2014

Christ's love is a kind of transparent magnifying glass that enables us to catch fire in our own spiritual passion!


In one of his writings, Thomas Merton visualizes Christ as a sort of magnifying glass that concentrates the rays of Divine love upon each of us, thereby enabling us to catch fire with the heat of our own spiritual passion.  Just as a magnifying glass appears to be merely a clear window with no substance of its own, so Christ - through humble self-emptying - is present to us as a kind of pure "nothing."  Yet in the midst of his transparent love, we begin to glow with our own inward Light!


I believe that when we offer one another sincere compliments, we mediate this kind of love, in the process enabling the truest self of each of us to manifest itself and to glow in its own innate divinity!




Photos: (Top) Three-leaved sumac leaf lying on a lichen-covered rock, Red Mountain Open Space, Larimer County, CO, October 18, 2014; (Middle) Aspen leaf set aglow by late-day sun, with Horsetooth Rock in the background, Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO, October 22, 2014; (Bottom) Cottonwoods, Rabbitbrush and a pond, near Bellvue, CO, October 14, 2014

Too much business leads to hurry.


"I have observed that too much labour not only makes the understanding dull, but intrudes upon the harmony of the body . . . As laying out business more than is consistent with pure wisdom is an evil, so this evil frequently leads into more. Too much business leads to hurry. In the hurry and toil, too much strong drink is often used, and hereby many often suffer loss as to a true composedness of mind."

John Woolman,
18th century Quaker




Photos: (Top) Cottonwood trees and Greyrock, just across the street from my house, Larimer County, CO, October 22, 2014 (Middle) Thimbleberry leaf, with Horsetooth Rock in the background, Horsetooth Mountain Park, CO, October 22, 2014; (Bottom)  Wild Plum bushes and Arthur's Rock, Lory State Park, CO, October 16, 2014

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Beauty is the moment of transition, as if the form were just ready to flow into other forms.



"Beauty is the moment of transition, as if the form were just ready to flow into other forms."

Ralph Waldo Emerson 




Photos: (Top) Aspens, Spruces and Firs with a dusting of snow, near Gould, CO, October 13, 2014; (Middle) Aspens up Poudre Canyon, near Fort Collins, CO, October 13, 2014; (Bottom) Cottonwoods and red cliffs, Red Mountain Open Space, Larimer County, CO, October 18, 2014