Part of the value of these Archaic pictographs is the fact that they stop us in our tracks.

Part of the value of these Archaic pictographs is the fact that they stop us in our tracks. They stun us, causing us to wonder: "What do they mean?" At some of these rock art sites, the National Park Service has placed a journal in a metal box, where hikers can record their musings and reflections. As you might imagine, the entries are quite fascinating to read. Yet no matter what interpretation any of us arrives at, it never seems to do justice to the profound mystery and majesty emanating from the artwork itself . . .

 Photos: Archaic Barrier Canyon Pictographs, southwest Utah; created as early as 5,000 B.C.E.

I was born with eyes that never close.

"I was born with eyes that never close."

Joy Harjo
Muscogee

Photos: Archaic Barrier Canyon Pictographs, painted as early as 5,000 B.C.E. Great Gallery and Sego Canyon, UT

I know I walk in and out of several worlds each day.

"I know I walk in and out of several worlds each day."

Joy Harjo
Muskogee 

 
Photos: Pictographs painted in red hematite by the Archaic Barrier Canyon People as early as 5,000 B.C.E. The Great Gallery, Canyonlands National Park, UT

"My grandfather told us that these images are not done by humans . . ."

"My grandfather told us that these images are not done by humans. They are not done by Indians. They are done by beings with spiritual powers and they tell us stories of all kinds - stories of their travels, their beliefs
. . .

"But (he cautioned): don't let anyone tell you they are done by humans because they are not. They are done by somebody greater than a human."

Mae Perry
Shoshoni

Photos: Pictographs painted in red hematite by the Archaic Barrier Canyon people (?), as early as 5,000 B.C.E.  (Top and Secon) The Great Gallery, Canyonlands National Park, UT;  (Third) Arches National Park, just outside Moab, UT;  (Bottom) Sego Canyon Panel near Thompson Springs, UT.

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe.

"The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature."

Joseph Campbell

Photo: Archaic Barrier Canyon Pictographs, painted with hematite as early as 5,000 B.C.E., near Thompson Springs, UT

The final mystery is oneself.

"The final mystery is oneself."

Oscar Wilde 

Here are some more Fremont Culture Petroglyphs, carved sometime between A.D. 1 and 1300, near Thompson Springs, UT

Fremont Culture Petroglyph

This petroglyph is from the Fremont Culture, and it was carved sometime between A.D. 1 and 1300. The panel appears to show the hunting of a bear and some desert bighorn sheep. It is located on a cliff near Moab, UT

We require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable . . .

"We need the tonic of wildness . . . We require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Fremont Culture Petroglyph, carved anywhere from A.D. 1 - 1300; Moab, UT

Decreasing the drama in our lives!

One of the most challenging aspects of the various social conflicts we face in our daily lives is discerning which of those difficulties are the result of skewed inner perception and which are real. The capacity of the psyche to create complex dramas out of the enigmatic statements, behaviors, and instances of seeming non-communication on the part of other people is almost endless. Therefore, it is helpful to make a practice of entering the vast expanses of silence, solitude and simplicity that dwell within the inner desert of the heart as a means of gaining some sense of perspective. There - in the inner spaciousness - we learn to live in a realm where our relationship and union with the Divine is the only thing that really matters. From this perspective, our self-created dramas seem far less gripping. That said, it may nevertheless be necessary to limit those social interactions which elicit the most instances of inner drama. It is possible to think well of a person and to send them our silent blessings while at the same time limiting our interaction with them. As Jesus suggested, it is not wise "to throw our pearls before pigs," that is, to those who do not appreciate the things that are most important to us. After all, that is precisely the course that OTHERS may sometimes need to take with us!

Photos: Arches National Park, UT, April 19-20, 2015

The Creator DOES want us to focus on the creation, not on the Creator!

Please imagine with me for a moment that you are attending a talented artist's gallery exhibition of landscape paintings. Although you are absolutely amazed and enthralled at the beauty and creativity of the paintings and the landscapes depicted in them, you then approach the artist and begin a conversation. "These paintings you made are so amazing," you say, "but I know you'd want me to take my attention off THEM and place my focus instead on YOU! I praise you and bless you for your creativity, and I know that nothing you PAINT could ever measure up to YOU!" 

The artist would then be tempted to reply (inwardly, if not outwardly): "Why are you being so ridiculous? I want you to focus on the beauty I'm seeing in NATURE, not on me! In fact, I only feel inspiration when I, as the artist, am LOST in awe and wonder in a sunset, in a wildflower meadow, in the beauty of a human face. I really appreciate your compliments - and graciously accept them - but I'm really not interested in having the attention focused on ME. Please focus on the paintings instead, and work to take care of the incredible landscapes they depict!"

Applying this vignette to our human relationship with the Creator, don't you think that God would reply similarly? And yet we have so much Western religion warning us to "worship the Creator, NOT the creation"! To the contrary, I picture the Creator - like the artist - being tempted to respond (inwardly, if not outwardly): "Are you CRAZY?" I'm not even thinking of MYSELF when I create these natural works of art! I'd be much happier if you focused - and cared for - THEM, not ME! It's an insult to my craft - and to me - to focus more attention on ME than on the landscapes that are my muse and inspiration!"

Indeed, THIS is the kind of Creator I'm in love with :)

Photos: Prince's Plume on "Wall Street," sunset near The Windows, and sunrise reflected in pools; Arches National Park, UT, April 18-20, 2015

We are often like ants who cannot see beyond the denuded perimeter of the anthill . . .

"Most of us have no more awareness of the grandeur, beauty, mystery, complexity, vitality, form and infinite possibilities of the world of earth and space, than the ant has of the landscape beyond the denuded perimeter of the anthill. Why? Because most of us are exclusively preoccupied with the human sphere only - or not even that much - obsessed with the interhuman, the personal, subjective, internal region."

Edward Abbey

Photos: Balanced Rock, Juniper snag, Queen Nefertiti and Desert Paintbrush; Arches National Park, UT, April 18-20, 2015

The tremendous stillness . . .

"It's as marvelous as ever up here. The tremendous stillness. The tremendous infinity of sky. One raven croaking . . ."

Edward Abbey 

Photo: The Windows, Arches National Park, UT, April 20, 2015

God is a still desert.

"God is a still desert."

Meister Eckhart
14th century German mystic

Photos: Arches National Park, April 18-20, 2015

With beauty all around me, may I walk . . .

"With beauty before me, may I walk;
With beauty behind me, may I walk;
With beauty above me, may I walk;
With beauty below me, may I walk;
With beauty all around me, may I walk.
Wandering on a trail of beauty,
Lively, I walk."

Version of a Dine' (Navajo) chant

Photos: Arches National Park, UT, April 19-20, 2015

The manic pace of our modern lives can be brought into balance by simply giving in to the silence of the desert . . .

"The manic pace of our modern lives can be brought into balance by simply giving in to the silence of the desert, the pounding of a Pacific surf, the darkness and brilliance of a night sky far away from the city."

Terry Tempest Williams

Photos: (Top) Juniper berries and Corona Arch, near Moab, UT; (Middle) Desert Paintbrush, a pool, and one of the Courthouse Towers, Arches National Park, UT; (Bottom) Looking up at Broken Arch, Arches National Park, UT. All three photos were taken on April 19, 2015

Wilderness is a metaphor of unlimited possibility . . .

"Wilderness is both the bedrock lands of southern Utah and a metaphor of 'unlimited possibility.' The question must be asked, 'How can we cut ourselves off from the very source of our creation?' This is not about economics. We are talking about the body of the beloved, not real estate. We must ask ourselves as Americans, 'Can we really survive the worship of our own destructiveness?' We do not exist in isolation. Our sense of community and compassionate intelligence must be extended to all life-forms, plants, animals, rocks, rivers, and human beings."

Terry Tempest Williams
speaking before a U.S. Senate subcommittee
on forest and public lands management

Photos: Balanced Rock, North Window, and one of the Courthouse Towers, Arches National Park, UT, April 19-20, 2015

I want my life to be a celebration of s l o w n e s s.

"Perhaps this is what I desire most . . . , becoming a caretaker of silence, a connoisseur of stillness, a listener of wind where each dialect is not only heard but understood . . . In the vastness of the desert, I want to create my days as a ceremony around s l o w n e s s . . . I want my life to be a celebration of s l o w n e s s."

Terry Tempest Williams

Photos: Colorful rock layers, Desert Paintbrush, a pool, Turret Arch, and Cliffrose; Arches National Park, UT, April 19-20, 2015

The blood-red hues of the desert remind us that wild country is essential to our psychology.

"As the world becomes more crowded and corroded by consumption and capitalism, this landscape of minimalism will take on greater significance, reminding us through its blood red grandeur just how essential wild country is to our psychology, how precious the desert is to the soul of America."

Terry Tempest Williams

Photos: (Top) Juniper berries and South Window at sunrise, Arches National Park, UT, April 20, 2015; (Middle) Stemless Woolybase and Corona Arch, near Moab, UT, April 19, 2015; (Bottom) Matted Pea, Red Canyon Open Space, Larimer County, CO, April 25, 2015

Wilderness holds an original presence giving expression to that which we lack.

"The Colorado Plateau is wild. There is still wilderness here, big wilderness. Wilderness holds an original presence giving expression to that which we lack, the losses we long to recover, the absences we seek to fill   . . ."

"Wilderness revives the memory of unity. Through its protection, we can find faith in our humanity."


Terry Tempest Williams 

Photos: (Top) North Window at sunrise; (Second) Desert Paintbrush and Wall Street; (Third) Dwarf Evening-Primrose and The Three Gossips (Three Muses); (Bottom) Claret Cup Cactus. All four photos were taken at Arches National Park, UT, on April 19-20, 2015

Camping involves no wearisome sermons - comfortable, commonplace, and humdrum.

"Camping: the delight of picking a place - fresh, beautiful. Here are no wearisome sermons - comfortable, commonplace, and humdrum. Instead, there is an escape from every phase of civilized formality, from all the fixed societal laws of action . . .

"Here we find ever-changing scenes: new "furniture" in the dining room every day and every meal. Suddenly, the great heaven is lighted with ten thousand gleaming worlds!"

The Contemplative John Muir

Photos: (Top) Our campsite at Arches National Park, UT; (Second) Desert Paintbrush, a rain pool, and The Three Gossips (Three Muses) at sunrise, Arches National Park; (Third) Whipple's Fishhook Cactus, Corona Arch Trail, near Moab, UT; (Bottom) Prince's Plume and Corona Arch, near Moab. All four photos were taken on April 19-20, 2015.