When people become bored, it is because they have lost touch with an infinite world of beauty and mystery available through the senses within the natural world.

"One of the saddest remarks anyone can make is that he is bored, just killing time, with nothing to get excited about, nothing to warrant enthusiasm.  When I sense such reactions, I wonder what has happened to sights and sounds, to the senses of smell and touch, to the realization of an infinite world of beauty and mystery.  Part of the answer is humanity has removed itself so completely from the natural scene, which used to give comfort and pleasure, our reactions have atrophied through lack of use."

Sigurd F. Olson

Photo: Aspen leaf lodged in a Lady Fern on a misty day; Gem Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; October 5, 2012

In solitude, I dwell in the Ground of Being, where I am most one with others.

Paradoxically, I often feel less alone during times of wilderness solitude than when I'm dwelling at home, in town.  When I am in the physical presence of people - or communicating with them by phone or through social media - I am tempted at times to focus only on the superficial aspects of our personalities.  These include the areas where we clash, and the things upon which we disagree.  However, when I go into solitude, I begin to live on a deeper level.  There, I remember to see others from the perspective of the eternal Ground of Being - the truest identity of ALL of us.  In the wilderness, I am aware that I too emerge from that Ground, and I understand that it is THERE that I am truly one with all other beings.  When I return home, I can then make a practice of viewing others - and myself - from the perspective of that Ground, thereby allowing the superficial disagreements of everyday life to melt away in the face of a deeper and more eternal perspective.

Photo: Aspen leaves and rock outcrop; Gem Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; October 5, 2012

The substance of our being is enclosed in God.

"God is closer to us than our own soul, for he is the foundation on which our soul stands . . . For our soul sits in God in true rest . . . And therefore if we want to have knowledge of our soul, and communion and discourse with it, we must seek it in our Lord God in whom it is enclosed . . . We are enclosed in God’s rest and peace . . . We are enclosed in the Father, and we are enclosed in the Son, and we are enclosed in the Holy Spirit.  And the Father is enclosed in us, the Son is enclosed in us, and the Holy Spirit is enclosed in us . . . For I saw surely [in a vision] that our substance is in God, and I also saw that God is in our sensuality, for in the same instant and place in which our soul is made sensual, in that same instant and place exists the city of God . . . This sight was sweet and wonderful to contemplate, peaceful and restful, secure and delectable.”  

Dame Julian of Norwich
14th century England

Photo: Chokecherry leaves encased in ice; Lory State Park, CO; October 6, 2012

Beauty is a harmony of contrasts.

"Beauty is a harmony of contrasts."

Alfred North Whitehead
Philosopher

Photo: Multi-colored leaf, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; October 5, 2012

Beauty has a strange power of giving peace and joy.

"Beauty has a strange power of giving peace and joy."

Sigurd F. Olson

Photo: Raindrops on a wild plum; Lory State Park, CO; September 12, 2012

There can never be an end to wonder and awareness.

"The longer I contemplate this world of living things and look at the earth itself, the more I am convinced there can never be an end to wonder and awareness, and that one of the real tragedies of life is to waste time when there is so much to see and learn."

Sigurd F. Olson
"Reflections from the North Country"

Photo: Raindrops on shriveled wild plums, Lory State Park, CO; September 12, 2012

Even in the midst of city-life stresses, we can become aware of the backdrop of silence out of which all things arise.

"We cannot all live in the wilderness, or even close to it, but we can, no matter where we spend our lives, remember the BACKGROUND which shaped this sense of the eternal rhythm, remember that days, no matter how frenzied their pace, can be calm and unhurried.  Knowing we can be calm and unhurried we can refuse to be caught in the so-called rat race and the tension which kills Godlike leisure. Though conscious of the roar around us, we can find peace if we remember we all came from a common mold and primeval background."

Sigurd F. Olson

Photo: First snow flurry on a leaf; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; October 5, 2012

Ice is only another form of terrestrial love.

"Ice is only another form of terrestrial love."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 117

Photo: Ice crystals on willow leaves, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; September 29, 2012

Beauty brings us a lift of spirit and an afterglow of serenity and content.

"In a lifetime of seeing beauty in the wilderness, I always feel a lift of spirit and an afterglow of serenity and content. I also know one must take time and wait for the glimpses of beauty that always come, and one must see each as though it were his last chance."

Sigurd F. Olson

Photo: Shriveled wild plums, Lory State Park, CO; October 6, 2012

Silence is built into the fabric of the mind.

"When a person feels tension as though he were being pulled out of his ancient mold, it is his divorcement from silence that is often responsible, silence built into the fabric of his mind."

Sigurd F. Olson

Photo: A Chokecherry leaf is encased in ice; Lory State Park, CO; October 6, 2012

Even Thoreau had trouble letting go of societal problems when walking in the woods!

"I feel a little alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.  I would like to forget all my morning's occupation, my obligations to society.  But sometimes it happens that I cannot easily shake off the village; the thought of some work, some surveying [Thoreau's 'other' occupation], will run in my head, and I am not where my body is; I am out of my senses.  In my walks, I wish to return to my senses like a bird or a beast.  What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?"

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Aspen grove, Oh-Be-Joyful Trail, Kebler Pass, near Crested Butte, CO; September 22, 2012

Wilderness spaciousness puts us in touch with the vastness of our own true self.

The spaciousness of wilderness landscapes acts as a mirror reflecting the expansive quality of our true inner self.  Contact with this interior vastness then enables us to transcend the hectic pace of a society that causes us to feel contracted, claustraphobic and stressed.  When we live from this inner core of spaciousness we experience a vibrant sense of freedom that is able then to spread  to everyone around us, thereby enriching ALL of our lives in the process.

Photo: Aspen, cottonwoods and Moraine Park spread out in the foreground, with Long's Peak and Thatchtop Mountain looming on the horizon.  Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; September 29, 2012

People don't choose their careers; they are ENGULFED by them.

"People don't choose their careers; they are ENGULFED by them."

John Dos Passos,
American novelist

Photo: A few Engelmann spruces are swamped in a sea of golden aspen trees; East Maroon Creek, CO; September 23, 2012

It's easy to say "No!" when there's a deeper "Yes!" burning inside.

"It easy to say 'No!' when there's a deeper 'Yes!' burning inside."

Stephen R. Covey

Photo: An aspen grove in Hollowell Park burns in sunrise light with Long's Peak in the background; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; September 29, 2012.  The principle expressed in this quote is essential whenever we are trying to overcome some attitude or behavior we don't like within ourselves.

"[I] must be out-of-doors enough to get experience of wholesome reality, as a ballast to thought and sentiment.  Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life.  This life in the present . . . I keep out of doors for the sake of the mineral, vegetable, and animal in me."

Henry David Thoreau

Photo: Long's Peak and an aspen tree on Bierstadt Moraine; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; September 30, 2012