Gazing at the horizon nurtures the spiritual life . . .

"Naked space excites in the heart the subtle sense of relationship to the earth horizon which is the nurture of the spiritual life."

Mary Austin

Our campsite up in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains last weekend offered absolutely stunning views of the San Luis Valley below, the Great Sand Dunes, and the surrounding peaks. Mountains rimmed the horizon in every direction, and I could feel my spirit expand to become the vastness of the landscape. What would I do without spaciousness - both within and without - in my life?

Photos: The views from our campsite in Zapata Falls Campground, CO, June 6 and 7, 2015

A vast horizon nurtures the spiritual life . . .

"Naked space excites in the heart the subtle sense of relationship to the earth horizon which is the nurture of the spiritual life."

Mary Austin

Our campsite up in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains last weekend offered absolutely stunning views of the San Luis Valley below, the Great Sand Dunes, and the surrounding peaks. Mountains rimmed the horizon in every direction, and I could feel my spirit expand to become the vastness of the landscape. What would I do without spaciousness - both within and without - in my life?

Photos: The views from our campsite in Zapata Falls Campground, CO, June 6 and 7, 2015

Man is not himself only . . . He is the land.

"Man is not himself only. He is all that he sees; all that flows to him from a thousand sources. He is the land, the lift of its mountain lines, the reach of its valleys; his is the rhythm of its seasonal processions, the involution and variation of its vegetal patterns. If there is in the country of his abiding, no more than a single refluent color, such as the veiled green of sage-brush or the splendid wine of sunset, he takes it in and gives it forth again, as a manner, as music, as a prevailing tone of thought, as the pattern of his personal adornment."

Mary Austin,
1924

Photos: Stephen at Bryce and Arches National Parks, UT

The spell of the land's lofty and intricate charm works on men like the beauty of women.

"The spell of the land's lofty and intricate charm works on men like the beauty of women. They love it past all reasonableness . . .

"It is as easy, I say, to believe that such a land could neglect men to their death, as for a man to believe that a lovely woman can be unkind . . .

 

"Shall the tender opal mist betray you? The airy depth of mountain blueness?"

Mary Austin

Photos: Frosted trees, Lory State Park, CO, January 13, 2015

A great land, like a great lady, has her way with men.

"A great land, like a great lady, has her way with men . . . and you could not move her - no, not if you had all the earth to give - so much as one tawny hair's breadth beyond her own desires."

Mary Austin

Photos: Ice-frosted trees, Lory State Park and the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon, Larimer County, CO; January 13, 2015

Our relationship to the earth horizon is the nurture of the spiritual life.

"Naked space excites in the heart the subtle sense of relationship to the earth horizon which is the nurture of the spiritual life."

Mary Austin

My life experience of people is this: they appear in our lives, become intrigued with us for a short time, and then move on when more interesting things beckon.  This pattern has become even more prominent over the past several decades, when the pace of life has quickened at an ever-accelerating rate. For me, this situation is an important lesson in learning to identify ourselves with the vast, sacred expanses of the heart and mind rather than with the small, individual ego-self.  This spaciousness is the vastness of a divine love in which ALL of us appear, thrive for a time, and then dissolve like echoes out of Nowhere back into that vast, ever-expanding love.  This, I believe, is the only way to stay sane in a hectic, frenetic, impersonal, corporate-industrial society.

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Photos: (Top) Horses, prairie, and The Snowy Range, near Centennial, WY, October 14, 2014; (Middle) The Mummy Range, seen from the prairie expanses near Centennial, WY, October 14, 2014; (Bottom) Deer Mountain, Moraine Park, and Aspen tree, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 11, 2014

We Are the Land

 

"Man is not himself only . . . He is all that he sees, all that flows to him from a thousand sources . . . He is the land. If there is in the country of his abiding, no more than a single refluent color, he takes it in and gives it forth again . . . , as a manner, as music, as a prevailing tone of thought, as the pattern of his personal adornment."

Mary Austin, 1924

Photo: Stephen in Professor Creek Canyon, near Moab, UT; May 4, 2014