There is a tendency in religion for various aspects of human experience to be ignored or denied. For the fundamentalist wing of each faith, the tendency is to deny the unity of all things, the value of silence, and the goodness of another person's religious tradition. For the mystical wing of those same religions, the temptation is to deny the individuality of things, the fact that one possesses a relative perspective even when experiencing the absolute, and a denial of the importance of ideas, words and theology in the life of the spirit. Contemplatives like myself have a tendency to live in denial about our experience of anger, even when others can still feel it. And all religious and spiritual traditions succumb to the temptation to deny the reality and sacredness of sexuality.
Fortunately, however, frequent contact with Nature helps counteract these deficiencies by keeping us "real." Intense beauty, suffering, individuality, unity, sex, male and female realities, personality, non-personality, cooperation, competition - it's all there. Oh, and mosquitoes, rocks to smack your knee on, sunburn, frostbite, overpowering sunsets, and the beautiful Nature writings contained in the book you stashed in your backpack. It's all there!
Photos: (Yellow Senecio, pink Fireweed, White Cowbane, Black Lake and
various waterfalls, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, September 1, 2015
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