If I love a person, I will love that which most makes him a person: his solitude.

"A person is a person insofar as he has a secret and is a solitude of his own that cannot be communicated to anyone else. If I love a person, I will love that which most makes him a person: the secrecy, the hiddenness, the solitude of his own individual being."

Thomas Merton

Photo: Pinyon Pine, sand dunes, and peaks of the Sangre de Cristo, Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO, March 29, 2015

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.

"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way."

Edward de Bono
 

Photos: Beautiful patterns in the sand, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background; Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO, March 27-28, 2015

Allowing ourselves to be seized by moments of surprise.

"The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us."

Ashley Montagu

Knowing that things have been pretty stressful at work lately, my wife encouraged me to get away for a three-day weekend right at the end of my Spring Break. She knew I could use the time to regain my center in the Great Outdoors and do some spiritual seeking. Grateful for her suggestion, I settled on Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. It seemed the closest thing to desert conditions - and moderate temperatures, important for early Spring camping - that I could find without having to drive all the way to Utah. However, when I checked on the availability of the campgrounds inside and just outside the park, I discovered that none were open yet for the season. The ranger I talked to informed me that the only option was a BLM campground located about ten miles from the Park - high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, at 9,000 feet. The campground - named Zapata Falls - was built in 2011 with stimulus money provided by President Obama. Although the situation did not seem ideal (I figured it would still be quite cold at that elevation this time of year), I decided to go and make the best of it.

Realizing that the campground had only 29 sites, I took off early, drove five hours, and got to the entrance road about noon. After heading up the bumpy 3.5 mile gravel track and gaining about 1500 feet in elevation, I could hardly believe what I found when I arrived. From my campsite, the entire San Luis Valley was spread out before me, almost completely rimmed in mountains. What a sense of spaciousness I felt! The experience was like that of climbing to the exhilarating crest of a roller coaster track just before descending to the depths below. To the south, I could see the dormant volcanoes of northern New Mexico. To the west, the peaks of the San Juans spread out. To the north, the Collegiate Peaks jutted up. To the northeast, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains - with the Great Sand Dunes lying just in front - revealed themselves in all of their glory. And to the east, Blanca Peak - at 14, 351 feet - jutted up just above the campground. Blanca (Tsisnaasjini, or White Shell Mountain), is the Sacred Mountain of the East for the Dine' (Navajo) people, signaling the vast extent of traditional Navajo territory before the current reservation era. As I set up my tent, Blanca seemed IN MY FACE, calling me away from my social stresses and helping me become present IN THE MOMENT.

I got up for sunrise the next morning, and it proved to be utterly amazing, with ruddy light streaks daggering across the valley just before illuminating the entire setting. Little did I know that what at first seemed like it would be a second-best camping option turned out to be one of the most beautiful settings I've ever camped at! An additional bonus was the high pressure weather system that brought sixty degree daytime temperatures, perfect for meditation and journaling. All of my grumbling about potential frigid temperatures turned out, as is so often the case, to be completely unfounded :)

 

Photos: Sunrise at Zapata Falls Campground, Rio Grande National Forest, CO; March 28, 2015

Who hears the rippling of the rivers will not utterly despair of anything.

"Who hears the rippling of the rivers will not utterly despair of anything."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Ripple patterns in Medano Creek, with the Great Sand Dunes on the left and Mt. Herard in the background; Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO, March 28, 2015

Where there is a lull of truth, an institution springs ups.

"In short, as a snow-drift is formed where there is a lull in the wind, so, one would say, where there is a lull of truth, an institution springs up."

Henry David Thoreau
"Life without Principle"

Photos: Various snowy scenes from Larimer County, CO, March 7, 9 and 23, 2015

These flowers make no reference to former flowers or to better ones; they exist with God TODAY.

"If a man claims to know and speak of God, and carries you backward to the phraseology of some old mouldered nation in another country, in another world, believe him not. Is the acorn better than the oak which is its fulness and completion? Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being? Whence, then, this worship of the past? The centuries are conspirators against the sanity and authority of the soul.

"Man is timid and apologetic, he is no longer upright; he dares not say 'I think,' 'I am,' but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing flower. These flowers make no reference to former flowers or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the flower; it is perfect in every moment of its existence."

Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Self-Reliance" (1847)

Well, in quoting Emerson here, I just violated his counsel! :)

Photos: Pasqueflowers, Lory State Park, CO, March 25, 2015

In solitude we discover a sense of inner authority.

In solitude, we realize our oneness with the Divine especially through silence, which serves as a kind of solvent, dissolving us into Something more vast than anything we've ever known. In this solitude, we understand that we ARE the web of life knowing and celebrating herself through our own unique vision. It is this oneness that gives us a sense of inner authority. Here, like Christ, we are not primarily a Christian; nor are we a Buddhist - just as Gautama Buddha was not. For these are merely external labels by which the world seeks to categorize us, but which cannot do justice to the reality of our oneness with the sacred Ground of Being. It is this oneness that gives us any spiritual authority we might have.

Photo: Subalpine Fir tree and Notchtop Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 23, 2015

The Web of Life Spoke Through Jesus, and Speaks Through You and I

When exoteric-oriented Christians hear the Gospel of John report Jesus as saying: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me," they use this statement as a way of promoting religious exclusivism in the world. It is this kind of mindset that motivated the historical oppression of indigenous peoples on this continent and elsewhere. But this reading of the text lacks insight into the way the event actually occurred. In reality, the speaker of these words was - in the very act of sounding them - TRANSPARENT TO THE ENTIRE WEB OF LIFE: to the multi-faceted Self which permeates and is composed of all things. In fact, it wasn't really Jesus who spoke these words, but - as it were - an ECHO resounding through him. If we could have seen him when these words were said, we would have seen NOTHING - only the spot where Jesus stood becoming transparent to the world around him. And so it is meant to be with you and I, and with each of the seven billion other people in the world, and with countless numbers of plants, animals and landforms which all make up the grandeur of this planet. EACH of us is meant to be a unique way in which the ENTIRE Web of Life can speak its truth and celebrate its own immense beauty, energy and goodness!

Photo: Ice decorations on Two Rivers Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 23, 2015

Being our own authority.

"When you are awake to the integrity of your inner power, then you are your own authority. The word "authority" signifies your authorship of your ideas and actions."

John O'Donohue
"Anam Cara"

Photo: Pasqueflower, with the sun setting over Horsetooth Rock, Horsetooth Mountain Park, Larimer County, CO, March 24, 2015

We are primarily members of Nature, not society!

"I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute Freedom and Wildness, as contrasted with a Freedom and Culture merely civil, - to regard man as an inhabitant or part and parcel of Nature, rather than as a member of society."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Ice patterns on Two Rivers Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 23, 2015

Rather than disappear, ego becomes gradually translucent to our Divine Core.

After 56 years of working on my own craziness, I've finally realized that my "ego" - with all of its constricting and narcissistic tendencies - NEVER disappears, despite all of my wishes to the contrary. What DOES happen, however, is that the ego starts to become TRANSLUCENT to the Divine Presence dwelling at the core of our being. In my own case, ego often manifests itself in a tendency to focus on my own flaws. This fixation then prevents me from being fully present to the ways in which I am needed to help mediate Divine Love to those around me who are in need. However, ego can also become a useful tool, for the suffering it makes us feel then acts as a sort of "slingshot" that propels us THROUGH its own constriction, narrowness and solidity, enabling us to become ever more translucent to the Creator present within!

Photo: A translucent piece of ice reveals its inner beauty; Two Rivers Lake, with Notchtop Mountain in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 23, 2015

Quotations are royal.

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

Rudyard Kipling

Photos: Purple Crocuses, Naropa University Campus, Boulder, CO, March 20, 2015

 

We are constantly invited to be what we are.

"We are constantly invited to be what we are."

Henry David Thoreau

Photos: Gem Lake, Limber Pine Cone, Pasqueflowers, and hiker sitting on a log; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 21, 2015

Our thoughts and emotions are floating on a vast lake and atmosphere of Divine awareness, love and bliss!

Yesterday's hike up to Gem Lake was sunny, warm, and spirited. I love the Spring! When I photographed a Limber Pine cone resting on the barely frozen lake surface, the cone looked like it was floating!

"Floating" seemed to be the lesson of the day, as a Green Hairstreak flitted suddenly onto the Easter Daisies I was photographing, and a fly kept returning to a Pasqueflower. This week, may all of us realize that our thoughts and emotions are - at their core - actually light and transparent! Our temptation is to think that they are solid, weighty, and often oppressive. In reality, however, our thoughts, emotions, plans, worries and joys are all floating on the vast lake or atmosphere of divine awareness, love and bliss :)

Photos: A Limber Pine Cone rests on thin ice on Gem Lake; a Green Hairstreak butterfly alights on a clump of Easter Daisies, and a fly visits a newly-opened Pasqueflower; Gem Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 21, 2015

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has enough time.

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."

Rabindranath Tagore

Photo: Green Hairstreak Butterfly on an Easter Daisy, Gem Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 21, 2015

Nobody sees a flower, really . . .

"Nobody sees a flower, really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time."

Georgia O'Keeffe

Photos: Pasqueflowers and fly, Hewlett Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO, March 18, 2015

It is helpful to remember that the opposing sides in any conflict both spring from the same Ground of Being.

The world's great mystical traditions all understand that the opposing sides in any conflict both spring from the same Ground of Being. They encourage us, therefore, to look for our commonalities and to practice putting ourselves in the other's shoes. Meditation practice is especially helpful in realizing this oneness, for it teaches us to drop our tendency to over-identifiy with our thoughts, emotions and tenaciously-held views, and instead to melt into the vast Ground of Being and spacious sky of Divine Awareness out of which we all emerge.

This is a lesson that humanity is in the process of learning, especially in the realms of religion, politics, ethnic conflict, gender conflict, and in the day to day interpersonal conflicts we all face. Perhaps this impulse toward oneness is one of the "silver linings" of the great environmental crises we are now entering. Climate change, chemical and nuclear pollution and diminishing water supplies, for example, help remind us that we all inhabit a common planet spinning through space. It is therefore in the best interest of all of us to focus on our common Unity.

Photo: Two Pasqueflowers springing up through a dried Cottonwood leaf, Hewlett Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO, March 18, 2015

The soul is a shy presence.

"The secret and the sacred are sisters. Our times suffer from such a loss of the sacred because our respect for the secret has completely vanished. We need to shelter that which is deep and reserved within us. That is why there is such hunger in modern life for the language of the soul. The soul is a shy presence. Maybe one of the ways to reconnect with your deeper soul-life is to recover a sense of the soul's shyness. Though it may be personally difficult to be shy, it is an attractive quality in a person. In an unexpected piece of advice, Nietzsche says one of the best ways to make someone interested in you is to blush. The value of shyness, its mystery and reserve, is alien to the brash immediacy of many modern encounters. If we are to connect with our inner life, we need to learn not to grasp at the soul in a direct or confrontational way. In other words, the neon consciousness of much modern psychology and spirituality will always leave us in soul poverty."

John O'Donohue
"Anam Cara"

Photo: Limber Pine bark "blush," with Long's Peak in the background, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 16, 2015

Most fundamentally, the spiritual path of every human being is that of an "Earthiest."

In a post earlier this week, I mentioned identifying with the Contemplative Spiritual "Invisible Church" tradition of 16th century Germany. This is a free-flowing path that focuses on the "Inner Scripture" of the heart, and which seeks to foster this self-awareness in others. It also contributed directly to the Quaker tradition of the "Inner Light" dwelling within all things. This path, as a part of Radical Reformation Christianity, seeks to experience Christ less as an object of knowledge than as a lens through which we look at the world. In the case of the Contemplative Spirituals (and of other Christian mystics), this lens gives to all things an aura of gentle, loving, radiant warmth - one that serves to melt them all together into One sacred, transpersonal Reality. It also might be conceived as a particular way of LISTENING others into greater awareness of their own inner sacredness.

After I wrote this post, a Facebook friend asked if perhaps identifying with a particular tradition - even one as unobtrusive as the Contemplative Spirituals - is actually simply one more way of "boxing oneself in" to a limited way of being. Why identify with a tradition at all? his question implied. My friend makes a good point. After all, Jesus was not a Christian, Gautama Buddha was not a Buddhist, and Lord Krishna was not a Hindu. I'm reminded here of a famous quote by Karl Barth, which says: "Doing theology is like trying to paint a bird in flight." The Divine is constantly fresh and new, and is continually in the process of growing and evolving within each of us. How could our Source ever be boxed in?

Yesterday, as I meandered among the Pasqueflowers springing up from a forest fire burn that occurred three years ago, I was struck again by the fact that the unrutted freedom of Wilderness serves as a major lens through which I perceive the world. Where would I be without Nature? Almost everything I've learned about the Source comes from wilderness experience, and even my perception of Christian Mysticism - and of Buddhism, Native American Spirituality, Taoism, Hinduism, and a half-dozen other meaningful paths - comes from studying and practicing WHILE IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS. Even when I'm sitting in my indoor office, the mountain rivers are circulating through my blood, the air molecules of the Western skies are breathing through my lungs, and the spirit of the surrounding landscape - including that of its indigenous peoples - is constantly entering my pores.

Whenever people ask me "What tradition are you?" I answer thus: "I am a tree. My roots are composed of the insights of Evangelical Christianity and of the Quaker faith. My trunk is made up of Christian Mysticism and of the Contemplative Spiritual tradition. And my branches and leaves are composed of choice insights and practices from Buddhism, Native American Spirituality, Taoism, Hinduism, Sufism, Mystical Judaism, Enneagram Spirituality, Science and Psychology. But most importantly, the tree which I am exists IN A LANDSCAPE of mountains and deserts, prairies and marshes, seacoasts and forests. After all, every possible faith known to humankind is practiced ON A PLANET - on the Earth, which is continually spinning through space. Every spiritual classic we read, every religious service we attend, and every act of service we engage in occurs ON PLANET EARTH. The same could of course be said of agnostics, atheists and non-theists. "I am an Earthiest," desert rat Edward Abbey once wrote when describing his spiritual path. And the same could be said of EVERY ONE OF US, no matter WHAT faith or non-faith we practice!

Photos: Pasqueflowers, Hewlett Burn, Roosevelt National Forest, CO, March 18, 2015

Reconciling tradition and free-thinking.

If our life-journey involves embracing a spiritual tradition, it is important to remember that no tradition is ever stagnant. Rather, it evolves and grows, and its flowering looks quite different than the seed form it took under the direction of its founder.

However, I believe it is just as important to embrace the radical flow of thinking outside the box, which for me involves constant interaction with the free, unrutted reality of wilderness. In fact, I find myself "dancing" back and forth between the elements of the spiritual traditions I find meaningful, and the free, unscripted flow of insight that is the faithful gift of wilderness. This "dance" serves to reconcile the best aspects of each of these two seemingly opposite approaches to life.

For me, this is the most balanced and meaningful way to live.

Photo: Pasqueflower and waterfall, Hewlett Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO, March 18, 2015

Eastern and Western Approaches to Spirituality Both Have Advantages and Disadvantages.

Lately I've been reflecting on what seems to be a major difference in emphasis between spiritual traditions in the East and West. In the East, there is a move to go directly to the Unity that underlies all things. This Unity is seen as seamless, expansive and transparent. The distinctions that would seem to occur between various beings are viewed as mental fabrications that are in some sense illusory. The advantage of this approach is that it emphasizes the harmonious oneness of all things. The disadvantage is that there can be the tendency among those who are not adept at this approach to unify all things under THEIR OWN subconscious and unexamined way of experiencing that Oneness.

In Western spirituality, the distinctions between things are held to be important. Here, each being offers its own unique gifts to the Whole, which is viewed more as a puzzle with interlocking puzzle pieces than as a seamless sheet of divinity. The advantage of this approach is that it enables us to marvel at the way in which such seemingly disparate beings all end up joining together into One. Here, there is the idea that it is necessary to see things in all of their difference as a precursor to experiencing amazement at the fact that they are actually all completely One! Another advantage is the fact that one is taught to work ceaselessly to discern and uncover one's own hidden and subconscious biases. However, the disadvantage of this approach is that the distinction between things may harden into separation and alienation. This is of course what has happened in our patriarchal, corporate-industrial society, where a select few of the puzzle pieces view themselves as "superior" and "correct," and thereby as justified in dominating and exploiting those elements that are unfortunately viewed as "inferior" and "incorrect."

As with all things in life, every view has its advantages and disadvantages.

Photos: New Spring wildflowers, distinct yet united in all of their glory into a single landscape! Yellow Violet, Pasqueflower and Spring-beauty; Lory State Park and Hewlett Burn, Larimer County, CO, March 14 - 16, 2015

One of the tasks of true friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silences.

"Silence is the sister of the Divine. One of the tasks of true friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silences. Often secrets are not revealed in words; they lie concealed in the silence between the words or in the depth of what is unsayable between two people. In modern life there is an immense rush to expression. But sometimes the quality of what is expressed is superficial and immensely repetitive . . .

"The perspective of solitude and silence purifies and intensifies the encounter of two people in the anam cara [soul-friend] experience."

John O'Donohue
"Anam Cara"

Photos: Blue ice on Lake Haiyaha, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 16, 2015

We are capable of loving and belonging because the soul holds the echo of a primal intimacy.

"We are capable of loving and belonging because the soul holds the echo of a primal intimacy. This original echo whispers within every heart. The soul did not invent itself. It is a presence from the divine world, where intimacy has no limit or barrier. People who lead solitary lives often stumble upon this great wellspring of love within the heart. This is not a question of forcing yourself to love yourself. It is more a question of exercising reserve, of inviting the wellspring of love that is, after all, your deepest nature to flow through your life . . . The infinity that haunts everyone and which no one can finally quell is the infinity of one's own interiority. You feel that you are being looked at from the strangeness of the eternal. The infinity gazing out at you from within is from an ancient time."

John O'Donohue
"Anam Cara"

Photo: A blue ice cavern opens up on Lake Haiyaha, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 16, 2015

We are dying inside because we fail to value the mystery and hiddenness of the soul.

"In our times, the language of psychology is used to approach the soul. Psychology is a wonderful science, but in our culture of sensate immediacy, much psychology has abandoned the fecundity and reverence of myth and stands under the strain of neon consciousness, powerless to retrieve or open the depth and density of the world of soul. Celtic mysticism recognizes that rather than trying to expose the soul or offer it our fragile care, we should let the soul find us and care for us. Celtic mysticism is tender and devoid of spiritual aggression . . . 

"Ironically, our false sense of familiarity often militates against our homecoming to our soul. When we are familiar with something, we lose the energy, edge, and excitement of it. Hegel said, 'Generally, the familiar, precisely because it is familiar, is not known.' This is a powerful sentence. People have difficulty awakening to their inner world especially when their lives have become overly familiar to them. They find it hard to discover something new, interesting, or adventurous in their numbed lives. Consequently, there is great strangeness in the shadowed light of our soul world. We should become more conversant with our reserved soul-light. The first step in awakening to your inner life and to the depth and promise of your solitude would be to consider yourself for a little while as a stranger to your own deepest depths. To decide to view yourself as a complete stranger, someone who has just stepped ashore in your life, is a liberating exercise. This meditation helps to break the numbing stranglehold of complacency and familiarity. Gradually, you begin to sense the mystery and magic of yourself."

John O'Donohue,
"Anam Cara"

Photos: Blue ice caverns on Lake Haiyaha, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 16, 2015

The Celtic mind loves the secret world of the soul.

"The Celtic mind avoided ways of seeing and being that seek satisfaction in certainty. Patience with mystery and reserve is one of the profound recognitions of the Celtic mind. The world of the soul is secret. The secret and the sacred are sisters. When the secret is not respected, the sacred vanishes. Consequently, reflection should not shine too severe or aggressive a light in on the world of the soul. The light in Celtic consciousness is a penumbral light . . . One of the damaging aspects of the current spiritual hunger is the way it sees everything in such a severe and insistent light. The light of modern consciousness is not gentle or reverent; it lacks graciousness in the presence of mystery; it wants to unriddle and control the unknown. Modern consciousness is similar to the harsh and brilliant white light of a hospital operating room. This neon light is too direct and clear to befriend the shadowed world of the soul. It is not hospitable to what is reserved and hidden. The Celtic mind had a wonderful respect for the mystery and depth of the individual soul . . . It is interesting that the world 'revelation' comes from 're-valere,' literally, 'to veil again.' The world of the soul is glimpsed through the opening in a veil that closes again. There is no direct, permanent, or public access to the divine. The glimpse is sufficient."

John O'Donohue
"Anam Cara"

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Photo: Blue ice on Lake Haiyaha, with Hallett Peak in the background, Rocky Mountain National Park, March 16, 2015