We are designed to serve as a nourishing platform on which other beings can flourish.

One of the defining characteristics of a temperate rainforest is the fact that some organisms (like this moss-covered Bigtooth Maple) serve as a nourishing platform for other organisms (like this fern) to flourish. This quality can remind us that one of the defining characteristics of a spiritual life is the realization that selfhood is not identified merely with the individual. Rather, the self is part of a larger web. In other words, we are not meant to live merely for ourselves, our family, our race, our nation, or our species. Instead, we are designed to serve as a stable, nourishing platform on which an expanding network of other beings (including humans) can flourish. Ultimately, we are the means by which the Cosmos - along with God and Mother Earth - can know and appreciate its own amazing beauty.

Photo: Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park, WA; July 26, 2013

His sight is turned inside himself to try and understand the serenity of a clear, blue mountain lake.

"His sight is turned inside himself to try and understand
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake."

John Denver,
"Rocky Mountain High"

Photo: Upper Ice Lake, San Juan Mountains, CO; August 11, 2013

In the Pacific Northwest, religious experience is rooted historically in contact with the landscape.

"In the Pacific Northwest, religious experience - the charged and creative moment of encounter with the sacred - is rooted historically in contact with the landscape.  This is certainly true in Native American culture, and Euro-American explorers and settlers, too, found the vast and imposing geography of Cascadia both overwhelming and awe-inspiring . . . 'The Journals of Lewis and Clark,' for instance, show a preoccupation with the physical grandeur of the country . . . Even today, Northwesterners find moments of mystical illumination in contact with nature.  The prototypical religious experience of nature in the American West is the mountain epiphany, embodied in the adventures of John Muir, who writing of a sojourn into the wild, said: 'I will touch naked God.' "

Mark A. Shibley

Southern Oregon University

Photo: Rosy Spirea, Picture Lake, and Mt. Shuksan; Mt. Baker Wilderness, WA; July 22, 2013

The Divine Seeing occurs at the center of the human heart.

"The heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and this is the Eye.  This is the Eye of the Great Spirit by which He sees all things and through which we see Him.  If the heart is not pure, the Great Spirit cannot be seen . . . The person who is thus pure contains the Universe in the pocket of his heart."

Nicholas Black Elk

Oglala Lakota

Photo: Lower Blue Lake, San Juan Range; August 10, 2013.  I love the sense of mystical union expressed here.  

This is very similar to what Meister Eckhart said in the 14th century: "The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me. "  When we realize that we are held in the magnetic gaze of God welling up from the center of our being (experienced during contemplative prayer),  this realization IS the gaze of God, who - because of his humble self-emptying - has no "I" and who therefore exists only in the second-person as a Thou who is known by us.

First August Snow

The mountains of southwest Colorado received their first snow on Saturday evening.  Are we in for an early fall?

Photo: Rosy Paintbrush, Upper Ice Lake, and several thirteeners; San Juan Range, CO; August 11, 2013

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

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

Ernesto Cardenal
Nicaraguan poet and former monk

Photo: Second Beach, Olympic National Park, WA; July 26, 2013

Do people in the Pacific Northwest enjoy REFLECTING on their experience of Nature more than those who live in other regions?

In Colorado where I live, an abundance of people engage in outdoor activity.  However, few seem to enjoy REFLECTING on their experience of Nature or using words in an attempt to articulate what this experience means for their spiritual lives.  On the other hand, I get the impression that in the Pacific Northwest, there are a higher percentage of people who do enjoy such contemplation and reflection.  Perhaps the abundance of grey, misty days fosters a move INWARD, which in turn encourages reflection and contemplation?

Photo: Glacier lilies with Mount Baker looming in the distance; Goat Mountain, Mount Baker Wilderness, WA; July 23, 2013

Why is the sea king of a hundred streams? Because it lies below them. Therefore it is the king of a hundred streams.

"Why is the sea king of a hundred streams?
Because it lies below them.
Therefore it is the king of a hundred streams."

Lao Tze
6th century B.C.E.

Photo: Cow Parsnip growing by a stream, with sea stacks looming in the distance; Second Beach, Olympic National Park, WA; July 24, 2013

Beauty and danger are inseparable.

I find it fascinating to contemplate the fact - on the one hand - that Mt. Rainier is perhaps the most beautiful single mountain in America.  On the other hand, I often ponder the fact that she is also the most dangerous mountain on the continent.  Her beauty comes from the sheer massiveness of her form, the multitude of glaciers she wears, the lush wildflower meadows that clothe her slopes, and the ancient old-growth forests which thrive lower down.  Her danger comes from the fact that she is a volcano which could erupt at any time.  Mt. St. Helens, which erupted in 1980, is an adjacent mountain rising up just to the south.  If Rainier erupts, many metropolitan areas lying within the path of the lava flows would be affected.  In fact, a large part of Rainier's beauty arises from the very fact that she has indeed erupted before.  The decomposing lava from these eruptions makes an especially rich soil, a major factor in her unmatched wildflower display!

Photo: Avalanche Lilies and Mount Rainier at sunset, viewed from Spray Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA; July 28, 2013

Each of us finds our true self only in being positively-mirrored by an Other.

Each of us finds our identity only in being mirrored by others.  It is for this reason that the practice of love is so important, for it provides a positive looking-glass which puts us in touch with our own true self and helps undo the damage done by negative mirroring.  Of course, human beings - including we ourselves - cannot serve as the ULTIMATE mirror.  We are often preoccupied with our own concerns and therefore fail to see the harm we are doing to others through inattention and negative mirroring.  It is for this reason that so many of us eventually embark on a spiritual journey which leads us to a DIVINE mirror that is not  fickle like we humans are.  In my own life, Nature provides a major aspect of this Divine mirror, enabling me to let go of the tight, constricted ego-self I so often embody and identify instead with the spaciousness of the True Self.

Photo: Sea Stack and sand patterns; Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park, WA; July 27, 2013

Cascadian Spirituality involves a love affair with the Feminine Earth.

For me, one of the most beautiful features of Cascadian Spirituality is a heightened awareness of the Sacred Feminine.  This is especially true at Mount Rainier, where the local Nisqually tribe's name for the mountain ("Ta-co-bet") means "nourishing breast."  Here, the Beargrass that blooms on many of the slopes serves to enhance this association of landscape and Goddess.  Like a confident woman, Rainier has a mind of her own, continually creating her own weather, revealing and concealing her voluptuous form in fog and clouds all day and all night.  However, this association between Woman and Landscape is not some mere anthropomorphic concoction.  As in any experience of mystical union, the intermingling of opposites runs two ways.  Thus, while in the presence of a sensitive human observer, the non-personal landscape suddenly becomes alive with personal femininity, the observer is changed as well, able to transcend the ego-self in the act of absorbing the non-personal aspects of a 4.5 billion year history.  When in the presence of Rainier, I find myself suddenly able to become more spacious, transcendent, and less ego-driven.  As a man, I find that the erotic aspect of my nature takes on a wider perspective, able to fall in love with the Feminine Earth rather than simply being consumed in the typical male attraction to human femininity.  This two-way exchange is made possible by the elation and joy I feel in the presence of this astonishing mountain, which causes a swirling sensation within my heart - like that of a Sufi whirling dervish - that spins together the realms of personal and non-personal.  Of course, any poet will know exactly what I mean!

Photo: Mount Rainier and Beargrass, with glimmerings of Eunice Lake peeking through; Tolmie Peak Trail, Mount Rainier National Park, WA; July 29, 2013.  The haze on the left side of Rainier is from forest fires raging to the east.

A regional approach to spirituality includes valuing and learning from the Native peoples who live in the area.

In a recent posting I spoke of Cascadian Spirituality as an example of a regional approach to religious identity, one that is quite different from the usual practice of identifying oneself with one of the great international world religions. I believe it is important in practicing regional spirituality to appreciate and value the indigenous cultures that inhabit each landscape. In the case of the territory depicted in this photo, that would be the people and traditions of the Quileute Nation. While visiting the village of La Push - located within a mile of this beach - I found the Quileute people I encountered especially friendly and excited to share the richness of their culture with anyone who would appreciate it. Later that afternoon, while hiking along the beaches of Olympic National Park - traditional Quiliute territory - I could sense their warmth, self-giving attitude and respect for the land permeating my experience of the natural world.

Photo: Second Beach, Olympic National Park, WA; July 26, 2013

"Look at the glory! Look at the glory!"

"Look at the glory! Look at the glory!"

The Contemplative John Muir

This place is magical! When I arrived at my walk-in campsite at the trailhead, the mystical song of the Varied Thrush permeated the air with its bold, Zen-like notes. As I hiked the three miles up to Spray Park - known for its amazing wildflower displays - Mount Rainier was completely covered in fog. However, I waited around for several hours, and She eventually appeared! I couldn't stop shooting, and before I knew it, the Mountain was ruddy with evening alpenglow, appearing through a thicket of white Avalanche Lilies. I hiked back in the dark as the fog regathered, completely and exquisitely satisfied.

Photo: Avalanche Lilies and Mount Rainier at sunset; Spray Park, Mount Rainier National Park, WA; July 28, 2013. 

 Here is a recording of the Varied Thrush: http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/varied_thrush . (The "Listen" button is to the left of the maps).

Old-growth forests elicit a sense of timelessness.

One of the qualities people seek in a spiritual tradition is the experience of timelessness. Whenever we contact the realm of the eternal, it liberates us by grounding our lives in a dimension that goes deeper than our momentary trials and tribulations. I experience this sense of timelessness in the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. The silent hush, except perhaps for the twittering of a Pacific wren, the great, ageless wisdom of the ancient trees, the dim light hovering somewhere between daytime and night, and the constant rush of a nearby stream all contribute to this sense. The experience of timelessness is, in fact, a major dimension of Cascadian Spirituality.

Photo: Sword ferns and Bigtooth Maples covered in clubmoss; Hoh Rainforest, WA; July 26, 2013. Here is a recording of the Pacific wren: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6f1y0MozCI .

Cascadian Spirituality

As usual, my trip to the Pacific Northwest was spiritually rewarding. Whenever I'm there, I experience a special sense of hope for the future, one that emphasizes the importance of the spiritual dimension of life. For several years now, I've been fascinated by the idea of "Cascadian Spirituality," as defined in the book "Cascadia: The Elusive Utopia," by Douglas Todd. The qualities of this type of spirituality include the sense that Nature is a temple and a major source of revelation, an emphasis on the sacredness of place, the realization that each person is responsible for creating his or her own spiritual tradition, a focus on feeling and intuition as guides for spiritual vision, optimism, resistance to institutional religion, an attempt to live sustainably, and a valuing of diversity. Gallup polls report that the highest percentage of "Nones" on the continent - those who identify with no single religion - live in Cascadia. In other words, the idea of being "spiritual, not religious" flourishes here. People often ask "what religion are you?" and expect the answer to include some discussion of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. But what if a person identifies their religion primarily with a particular REGION rather than with a classical spiritual tradition? For myself, I find that there is a large part of my soul that identifies itself with the Pacific Northwest. and therefore with the spiritual riches of Cascadian Spirituality.

Photo: Lewis Monkeyflower, Picture Lake, and Mount Shuksan; Mt. Baker Wilderness, WA; July 22, 2013