Wilderness Mysticism values both masculine (Logos) and feminine (Sophia) wisdom.

In the context of a Wilderness Mysticism, there are two types of wisdom. Each is needed and each is complementary to the other. The first is masculine wisdom (Logos) which teaches us to make distinctions between things. Here, for example, we make a distinction between "Nature" and "Humanity." On the one hand, "Nature" offers the cosmic, non-personal, 4.6 billion-year perspective on Life - one which helps us move beyond the constrictions of the claustrophobic ego-self. Nature values populations more than individuals, and helps us transcend the confines of the small self. "Humanity," on the other hand, represents a valuing of the individual, with his or her personal and unique gifts. This value for the individual would include, of course, individuals of other species. In a romantic relationship, masculine or Logos wisdom teaches each partner to distinguish themselves and their gifts from the other partner, ensuring that one of the partners does not merge with the concerns of the other, and thus lose the capacity to contribute his or her own unique gifts. However, Western culture is a testimony to what happens when masculine wisdom alone is valued. Here, distinctness hardens into separation, and things become alienated from one another. Thus, for example, Humanity becomes valued over Nature, which then is dominated and abused. It is for this reason that masculine wisdom MUST be oriented toward feminine (Sophia) wisdom, which shows us how the various distinctions which Logos has made actually fit together - horizontally - to make up a larger Whole or Web of Life. Here, Nature and Humanity are viewed as intermingling and interpenetrating one another in a larger Union. Thus, for example, the individual human being becomes a unique perspective that non-human Nature takes on itself within each of us. In other words, Nature becomes personal and celebrates itself within US! Here, Nature becomes "MOTHER Earth"! However, the intermingling runs the other way as well. Here, we human beings become embodiments of the strength and majesty of mountains, the exuberance of waterfalls, or the beauty of wildflowers. In the process, our humanity takes on some of Nature's non-personal qualities, thus moving us beyond the confines of the narcissistic ego-self. The fun is in watching the things which originally manifest themselves as distinct - i.e., Nature and Humanity - suddenly realize their union with one another and take on the contrasting traits of one another. Thus, Logos distinctness is never an end in itself, but adds richness, surprise and zest to Sophianic interconnectedness!

Photos: (Top) Moss Campion (Silene) and Daisies (Erigeron), Paintbrush Divide; (Middle) A view from Paintbrush Divide; (Bottom) Unusually-colored Paintbrush flowers (Castilleja) on the trail up to Paintbrush Divide; Grand Teton National Park, WY, July 4, 2015

A thing is beautiful when it has a cosmic 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 - sea, sky, rainbow, flowers, musical tone - has in it something which is not private but universal, . . . and is therefore beautiful . . . The feat of the imagination is in showing the convertibility of every thing into every other thing."

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Photos: (Top) Paintbrush and The Grand Teton; (Middle) Marsh-Marigolds, The Grand and Middle Tetons; (Bottom) Mist near my backcountry campsite. All three photos were taken in Grand Teton National Park, WY, on July 4-6, 2015

Wilderness Mysticism views BOTH distinctness and Oneness as real . . .

Some mystical traditions view distinctions as illusory and the Oneness into which they all continually merge as the true Reality. However, Wilderness Mysticism values BOTH the distinctness of things AND their underlying Oneness. We might say, in fact, that the distinct and individual nature of each and every thing exists in order to lend a sense of surprise to Oneness when the vast and seamless expanse of Divine Awareness suddenly blossoms forth in individual things, arising as though out of nowhere! Indeed, that is precisely what Wilderness Insight Meditation teaches us to do: to identify with the spaciousness of awareness (using our exhalations as an aid) and then watching in absolute awe as a whole variety of different thoughts and sensations arise from it like echoes resounding in space with no original "Speaker" ever to be found!

Photos: (Top) Yellow Paintbrush and Vetch, with Grand and Middle Teton in the background; (Middle) Male cones of a Whitebark Pine; (Bottom) Snow Buttercups blooming in a snowbank on Montgomery Pass. The first two photos were taken in Grand Teton National Park. The third was taken in the Rawah Range of northern Colorado.

These sacred mountain temples are the holiest ground that the heart of man has ever consecrated . . .

"These sacred mountain temples are the holiest ground that the heart of man has ever consecrated, and it behooves us all faithfully to do our part in seeing that our wild mountain parks are passed on unspoiled to those who come after us, for they are national properties in which every person has a right and interest."

The Contemplative John Muir

Photos: (Top) Marsh-Marigolds and The Grand Teton; (Middle); Rosy Paintbrush and Lake Solitude; (Bottom) Mist in the Tetons; All three photos were taken in Grand Teton National Park, WY, July 4-6, 2015

Loneliness is at the core of the Enneagram Type FOUR personality.

"God IS this great feeling of solitude with which we are all born."

Ernesto Cardenal
Nicaraguan poet and former Trappist monk

As a Type FOUR on the Enneagram ("The Romantic," "The Individualist"), loneliness has been a frequent companion throughout my life. In a way, given the contours of my particular personality type, such loneliness is probably inevitable. After all, I naturally focus on developing a new and creative vision, which practically GUARANTEES that others will often misunderstand or fail to relate. This sense of social alienation is further intensified by the fact that my vision is bound to myth, imagination and a theology of erotic energy, elements which most people tend to ignore or avoid. Such loneliness is also a product of the fact that I generally find myself attracted only to the DEPTHS of life, which are not the realms where most people live out their years! However, loneliness also has a positive function, since it serves to PUSH me toward union and communion with the lonely Creator, whose corresponding sense of abandonment most likely originates in the fact that s/he is always at least several steps ahead of we human embodiments - that's US! - of the Divine vision. Thus, loneliness possesses a pervasive bittersweet quality. It is lonely, for sure, yet it places me smack dab in the middle of communion with a lonely God. And that place, when I really think about it, is exactly where I want to be :)

Photos: (Top) Rosy Paintbrush and cascade; (Middle) Rainbow; (Bottom) Colorado Columbines; All three photos were taken on the Bluebird Lake Trail, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, July 13, 2015

Nondual awareness lies BETWEEN the states of changelessness on the one hand, and growth-and-process on the other.

Eastern mysticism focuses on the stable, unchanging aspect of the Divine Life: the vast expanse of awareness that underlies and undergirds all things. It therefore tends to view change as illusory. On the other hand, Western Mysticism generally focuses on the growth-and-process aspect of the Divine Life which flows toward ever higher - or deeper - states of consciousness. Western culture tends therefore to drift away from an awareness of the underlying changelessness, a state that is accessed - par excellence - through sitting meditation. For me, BOTH of these understandings are necessary to give a complete picture of spiritual Reality. Accordingly, nondual awareness does not involve either of these states collapsing into the other, but resides instead in the place IN BETWEEN the two. In my view, THAT is the highest state of consciousness :)

Photos: (Top) Wild Rose and cascades on the North St. Vrain River; (Middle) Yellow Pondlily growing on a pond near Ouzel Lake (July 13, 2015); (Bottom) Snow Buttercups arising out of a snowbank filled with watermelon snow. The first two photos are from Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. The third was taken in Grand Teton National Park, WY on July 5, 2015

For me, beauty possesses an immense and powerful subjectivity . . .

For me, beauty possesses an immense and powerful subjectivity. I love the paradox contained in the fact that beauty both nurtures us AND threatens to destroy the acquisitive ego. As a FOUR ("The Romantic") on the Enneagram Personality Typology, I'm especially sensitive to the powerful aspects of beauty. I believe that's why I've never liked the word "pretty." Beauty is NOT domestic or capable of being domesticated! I've spent my life in the quest for ways to come to terms with Beauty's power, to find a union with Beauty, one that melts or destroys the ego into something much Greater and more Vast. Here, it is as though Beauty forcefully takes me over, STEALS my vision, and makes my awestruck wonder the vehicle through which SHE becomes "turned on" to Her own amazing grandeur and glory!

Photos: (Top) Glacier Lilies and cascade; (Middle) Colorado Columbines and Bluebird Lake; (Bottom) Rosy Paintbrush and Bluebird Lake; All three photos were taken on the Bluebird Lake Trail, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, July 13, 2015

Beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror . . .

"For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we still are just able to endure. And we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us."

Rainer Maria Rilke 

Photos: (Top) Yellow Pond Lily in a pond near Ouzel Lake,; (Middle) Rosy Paintbrush and Bluebird Lake; (Bottom) Wild Rose and cascades on the North St. Vrain River; All three photos were taken in Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, July 13, 2015

True solitude is found in the wild places . . .

"True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligation. One's inner voice becomes audible . . . In consequence, one responds more clearly to other lives."

Wendell Berry

Photos: (Top) My backcountry campsite in the North Fork of Cascade Canyon; (Middle) Snow Buttercups and Marsh-Marigolds near Hurricane Pass; (Bottom) Yellow Columbines, with The Grand Teton looming in the background; All three photos were taken in Grand Teton National Park, WY on July 4-5, 2015

May something beautiful emerge from all of the wasted moments of our lives.

Ah, the joys of backpacking! To lift a rock, scoop out some soil, and discover that "answering the call of Nature" on this particular occasion meant being watched over by several beautiful Columbines - and then offering them my own nutrients in return. I pray that, making a virtue out of a vice, all of the seemingly "wasted" and undisciplined moments of my life might similarly serve as compost for something beautiful to emerge :)


Photo: Colorado Columbines and The Morning Duty near by backpacker's campsite, Grand Teton National Park, WY, July 6, 2015

Living as a "Worldly Monk"

For the past three decades, I have striven to live my life as a Worldly Monk. "Worldly" in the sense of dwelling in the everyday world (rather than cloistered) with a family, and in the sense of striving to transform and integrate the "worldly" emotions of sexuality, anger, and other human energies, all in the context of the busy atmosphere of society. Silence, solitude, meditation, time spent in Nature, a simple lifestyle, teaching and service have been a major focus of this life. While definitely not easy, this life has led me down a path toward union with the Divine - in both its transcendent and immanent, God and Goddess aspects - that I hope will continue endlessly into the future . . .

Photos: (Top) Monkshood (Aconitum); (Middle) Journaling at my backcountry campsite; (Bottom) Spirea, with The Grand Teton in the background; All three photos were taken in Grand Teton National Park, WY on July 5-6, 2015

True perception takes place when a gaze encounters - or sees through - another gaze.

"True perception takes place when a gaze encounters - or sees through - another gaze. Thus the Creator needs his creatures to be capable of seeing in order to be able to perceive them . . . In love as in beauty, any true gaze is a mutual gaze. Mutual gazes alone can produce the spark that illuminates . . . And the work of beauty, always arising from a 'between,' is a third thing that, springing from the interaction of the two, allows the two to surpass themselves. If there is transcendence, it lies in this surpassing."

Francois Cheng
"The Way of Beauty"

Photos: (Top) Rosy Paintbrush; (Middle) Marsh-Marigolds; (Bottom) Colorado Columbines; All three photos were taken in the Snowy Range, WY, on July 10, 2015

Having morning coffee with a misty mountain range

What can be more fulfilling than going out for coffee with a misty mountain range?

Photo: Drinking coffee at one of my backcountry campsites in Grand Teton National Park, WY,  July 6, 2015

Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.

"Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are."

Jelaluddin Rumi 

Photos: (Top) Rosy Paintbrush; (Middle) Colorado Columbines; (Bottom) Glacier Lilies; All three photos were taken in the Snowy Range, WY on July 10, 2015

Joy is an attitude we can practice and embody.

I firmly believe that joy is not simply a passive feeling we either possess or do not possess. Rather, it is an attitude we can PRACTICE and EMBODY. I suppose my childhood spiritual training solidified this understanding in my psyche when it recognized the wisdom contained in the biblical passage that counsels us to "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again - rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4).

Photo: Alpine Sunflowers and Medicine Bow Peak, Snowy Range, WY, July 10, 2015

Beauty is the creator of the universe.

"The world is not painted, or adorned, but is from the beginning beautiful. God has not made some beautiful things, but Beauty is the creator of the universe."

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Photo: Elephanthead flowers, Snowy Range, WY, July 10, 2015

The healthiest love relationships include an element of solitude . . .

Our culture often seems to imply that a love relationship means continually being with one's beloved, doing everything together, having friends together, making our partner our ALL.. By contrast, I've found that having solitary times where each partner does things apart from the other is just as necessary. For me that means solitary backpacking trips and solo meditation sessions; for my wife it means having a retreat day in the backyard, going out for coffee with her friends, and working at a leisurely pace on house projects while I'm away. We also practice a hybrid of the two aspects of solitude-and-togetherness whenever we meditate together. In addition, she has her own women's spirituality group, while I have my own contemplative men's group. Indeed, solitude enables us to appreciate each other even more - AND have more interesting things to talk about - when we do come back together  :)

Photo: Indian Paintbrush and the peaks above Lake Solitude, Grand Teton National Park, WY, July 4, 2015

People and institutions will inevitably disappoint us, but . . .

Lately I've been relearning an old lesson; namely, that people and institutions will inevitably disappoint us. I know too that others could say the same of me, even though I strive to minimize the suffering I cause as much as possible. The Gospel writers had it right when they reported of Jesus: "He entrusted himself fully to no person, for he knew what was in a person." Earlier this week a friend whom I respect immensely fed back to me my own words: "We only ever have 'God.' " And, I would add, the Goddess, Mother Earth, Sophia. When I truly embody this realization, then I'm able to maintain a lighter touch on people and as a result am empowered to enjoy their presence for what it truly is, in a relaxed, non-expectant manner.

Photos: (Top) Reflections and conifer pollen in Lake Solitude; (Middle) Pink Columbines with The Grand Teton in the background; (Bottom) Fog rolls in over The Grand Teton; Grand Teton National Park, WY, July 4-5, 2015

The Grand Tetons are the perfect place to transform male erotic energy.

The Grand Tetons are the perfect place to fall in love with the Goddess - Sophia, Gaia, the Sacred Feminine, Mother Earth. After all, the early French explorers named these peaks "Le Trois Tetons," "The Three Tits." These peaks - like a woman - have enormous power. They create fierce thunderstorms, and hiking their steep canyon cleavages and passes always presents a challenge, especially when late-lying snowfields come into play. As a man, I've always found this range helpful in putting my attraction toward human embodiments of the Feminine into a larger context, one in which I find myself not so much a passive recipient of beauty (as is often the case when I encounter an attractive woman) but an active co-creator of that beauty. For while a woman may need nothing from me (and indeed, often does not WANT anything from me), the Goddess Earth needs my creativity and human consciousness to help reveal her personality hiding beneath layers of rock and snow. Sensing this truth, I wrote a poem some years ago. It begins with a few lines from a classical Indian poet writing about Radha, an incarnation of the Sacred Feminine:

Grand Teton Woman

"Seeking to cover my breasts with my hands,
I could not, - Just as the snow may not
conceal the southern hills."

Vidyapati, attributed to Radha

Confident gray granites thrust out into the sky
No foreground foothill corset has to
bolster up these curves
They play at covering up in a skimpy snow
bikini top
A futile, amusing attempt with peaks
so monumental
Radical canyon cleavages revel in their own
depths
A lively cascade necklace follows them ever lower
As geologic fingers
push the peaks together
making them into members
of a single mountain range
Seen from one perspective
they’re made of Precambrian rock
But thrust against my heart, they’re the
glory of a Goddess
Earth Woman, Gaia
the One who offers hints
She’d like for ME to reveal
Her personal female essence
hiding away inside
the impersonal granite layers
But I wonder: who am I, the one enjoying
this?
I’ve disappeared in bliss
with never a chance to answer
But the granite range remains
heartbreaking in its grandeur
The Goddess of the Mountains
The Grand Teton Woman
Still, I’m somehow present
As my mind’s astonished gaze
lights up her sunrise curves
in the purple alpenglow light
My sun nowhere in sight

Grand Teton National Park, WY, July 2006

Photos: The Grand Teton, Indian Paintbrush, Glacier Lilies and Lake Solitude, Grand Teton National Park, WY, July 3-4, 2015

Do not abuse your wife, for in doing so, you are abusing Grandmother Earth.

"Do not abuse your wife. If you make your wife suffer, you will die in a short time. Our grandmother, the earth, is a woman, and in mistreating your wife, you are abusing Her. Most certainly will you be abusing our grandmother if you act thus. Since it is She who takes care of us, by your action you will be practically killing yourself."

A Winnebago father's teachings to his son

Photos: (Top) Alpenglow on Grand Teton from my campsite; (Middle) Indian Paintbrush and The Grand; (Bottom) Moss Campion blooming on Paintbrush Divide; All three photos were taken in Grand Teton National Park, CO on July 3-4, 2015