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.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

All things resonate with a divine love-word: "Thou"!



In many Eastern non-dual traditions, all things and all beings are envisioned as various manifestations of a single divine "I." This is true in some theistic traditions as well, including some strands of Christian Mysticism.




In the strand I follow, all things and all beings are envisioned as manifestations of a single divine "Thou." Here, even our own self is a "Thou." The amazing thing is that even though all creatures have at their root this "Thou" as a divine love-word, there has never been an "I" to speak that word. For the Divine "I" - God's "I" - is always and eternally lost in self-emptying, awe-filled bliss and wonder at the great beauty and goodness of the world. Nevertheless, echoes of that never-spoken "Thou" resound within all things, even though the word never had a chance to be spoken! How amazing!




Photos: (Top and Middle) Snow patterns, an Engelmann Spruce, and the Diamond Peaks; (Bottom) The Park Range and North Park viewed from the ridge above Montgomery Pass; All three photos were taken at Montgomery Pass, Rawah Range, CO, March 7, 2015

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