"Even death is in harmony here [in the mountains]. Only in shambles and the downy beds of homes is death terrible . . . On no subject are our ideas more warped and pitiable than on death. Instead of sympathy, the friendly union, of life and death so apparent in Nature, we are taught that death is an accident, a deplorable punishment for the oldest sin, the archenemy of life, etc . . . Every uproar in Nature should be interpreted by the calm circle of light which environs it. Every dark and terrible abyss in Nature is lighted with a like circle of Love. God scatters firebrands, arrows, and death among the fairest and dearest mountains, but they are scattered as stars, orderly . . . "
The Contemplative John Muir
Yes, yes - I know that Muir's writings on death can seem overly romantic. But I see them as a sort of Zen koan, meant to shock the reader into a new state of awareness . . .
Photo: Bleached elk bone and the sun setting behind Notchtop Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, August 25, 2015
Yes, yes - I know that Muir's writings on death can seem overly romantic. But I see them as a sort of Zen koan, meant to shock the reader into a new state of awareness . . .
Photo: Bleached elk bone and the sun setting behind Notchtop Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, August 25, 2015
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