"I declare this world is so beautiful, that I can hardly believe it exists!"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel, pond, and the Snowy Range, WY; June 29, 2013
Sunday, June 30, 2013
I declare, this world is so beautiful, that I can hardly believe it exists!
"I declare this world is so beautiful, that I can hardly believe it exists!"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel, pond, and the Snowy Range, WY; June 29, 2013
Beauty is God
"Oh, the infinite abundance and universality of Beauty. Beauty is God - what shall we say of God that we may not say of Beauty?"
The Contemplative John Muir
Photo: Columbine and reflections on Bluebird Lake, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park; June 27, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Life is filled with simple joys.
"Joys come from simple and natural things, mists over meadows, sunlight on leaves, the path of the moon over water. Even rain and wind and stormy clouds bring joy, just as knowing animals and flowers and where they live. Such things are where you find them, and belong to the aware and alive."
Sigurd F. Olson
Surrounded by such simple joys, we have a tendency in our society to become addicted to a consumer mentality. Our culture habitually acts as though happiness comes mainly from the things we buy. Why do you suppose that is?
Photo: Snow Buttercups, Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; June 27, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Flowers tell a deep summer joy.
"Birds, insects, and flowers - all in their own way tell a deep summer joy."
The Contemplative John Muir
Yesterday I discovered this Snow Buttercup blooming right out of a snowbank. It's amazing to me how much in a hurry alpine plant species like this buttercup are to begin their life cycle each season, almost as though they are filled with exuberance and joy at the prospect of being alive.
Photo: Snow Buttercup, Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; June 27, 2013
A moose running to the top of a mountain?
Today my brother-in-law and I left the sweltering plains and hiked up to 11,000 feet. As we sat on the tundra eating our lunch, a cow moose came out of the woods below and ran up to the top of the mountain. Judging by the way she was shaking her head and ears, we guessed she was trying to get away from the
bugs and out into the welcome breezes.
Photo: Moose above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; June 27, 2013
Photo: Moose above Montgomery Pass, Medicine Bow Mountains, CO; June 27, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Nature is drenched with spiritual life!
"Nature like a fluid seems to drench and steep us throughout, as the whole sky and the rocks and flowers are drenched with spiritual life - with God."
The Contemplative John Muir
When I arrived at Lion Lakes on my hike last week, I was amazed to see how many Alpine Bog Laurel blooms there are this year. Exploring these marshy meadows entailed getting my feet wet, but it was well worth it. Whenever I encounter huge swaths of wildflowers like this, I think of the utter exuberance of life. Notice the stream in the middleground, creating these blooming bogs.
Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel with Mount Alice as a backdrop; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013
A major goal of true spirituality is an ability to experience the awe and wonder of the world and continually to grow in amazement.
A major goal of true spirituality is an ability to experience the awe and wonder of the world and continually to grow in that amazement. Meditation practice, as many seekers have discovered, can be quite helpful in fostering this attitude. Rather than seeking God as some sort of object, meditation teaches us to embody God's vision; that is, to look at the world through the eyes of wide-open, expansive love. When we approach the world from the perspective of the spacious mind of God, we are then able to marvel as an endless variety of thoughts, feelings and sensations arise spontaneously out of that spaciousness, like echoes having no original sound as their source! For the source of those echoing love-words is a God who is forever lost in bliss on account of the intense beauty of the world.
Photo: Male cones of an Englemann Spruce; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Mountain beauty forms a large part of the human soul.
"I love the glorious host of mountain forms, whose beauty forms so great a part of a terrestrial human soul."
The Contemplative John Muir
Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel and Lion Lakes at sunset; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013
Christ had a transparent self, not a billiard-ball self when he spoke the words: "I am THE way."
Last
week in my discussion with an evangelical Christian friend, we were
talking about the fact that conservatives (like himself) emphasize an
either/or life-stance, while liberals (like myself) tend to be both/and.
Every person is of course a combination of those two perspectives, but
we each have a tendency to lean toward one or the other. Then he
brought up the verse in the Gospel of John where
Jesus is seen exclaiming: "I am THE way, the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father but by me." My friend asked how I could still
hold a both/and perspective when the whole tenor of that verse tends to
narrow things down quite a bit.
In my response, I noted that it is important to ask: "Who exactly is the 'I' that is speaking in that verse?" Generally, we tend to think of the 'I' - that is, our sense of self - as a sort of self-enclosed billiard ball that has sharp boundaries and which travels through life bouncing off every other billard-ball self, causing us and others a whole lot of suffering. Often, our experience of that sort of self is tight and leaden, and - when carried to the extreme - makes us feel quite claustraphobic. The term that spiritual traditions use for this common experience of human identity is the "ego-self."
By contrast, all genuine spiritual paths seek to make the self translucent, and even transparent to the selves of all of the other creatures inhabiting the planet. In other words, they seek a more relational, all-inclusive view of self. This model of self can be seen in the "body of Christ" image, where one person is like a hand, another is like a foot, another is an eye, another is a beautiful head of hair, and so on. Here, the self is viewed as part of a larger whole, and each part understands its innate need for every other part. Similarly, Buddhists speak of the self as a part of the "Net of Indra," where every being is viewed as a node in a vast fisherman's net, and where each of these nodes contains a mirror-like jewel that reflects the jewel present in every other node composing this vast net.
The point is that Jesus, as a transformed, divinely human person, possessed a self that was transparent to the light coming from every other genuine self on the planet. In other words, it was not a solid, contricted, leaden, billiard-ball ego-self that spoke the words "I am the way." Instead, it was the expansive, transparent, all-inclusive state of consciousness that indwelt him which spoke these words, a state that indwells every other transformed being as well.
Often, when I give a response such as this, the other person will exclaim: "Wow, your view seems so COMPLICATED! I prefer a much simpler view of things!" However, I would point out that a translucent view of self is no more complicated than a billiard-ball view of self. It's just that the evangelical's billiard-ball view of self is generally unconscious and unexamined, making it seem "simpler." In other words, they aren't even aware that they are approaching life from such a view. In reality, it is actually much simpler - and much more conducive to a harmonious, peaceful life-experience - to see life from an expansive Body-of-Christ or Net-or-Indra view of self rather than from that of the constricted billiard-ball self that is so much a part of our everyday experience of conflict!
Photo: Snow-lily backlit by late-day sun, with Mount Alice in the background; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013
In my response, I noted that it is important to ask: "Who exactly is the 'I' that is speaking in that verse?" Generally, we tend to think of the 'I' - that is, our sense of self - as a sort of self-enclosed billiard ball that has sharp boundaries and which travels through life bouncing off every other billard-ball self, causing us and others a whole lot of suffering. Often, our experience of that sort of self is tight and leaden, and - when carried to the extreme - makes us feel quite claustraphobic. The term that spiritual traditions use for this common experience of human identity is the "ego-self."
By contrast, all genuine spiritual paths seek to make the self translucent, and even transparent to the selves of all of the other creatures inhabiting the planet. In other words, they seek a more relational, all-inclusive view of self. This model of self can be seen in the "body of Christ" image, where one person is like a hand, another is like a foot, another is an eye, another is a beautiful head of hair, and so on. Here, the self is viewed as part of a larger whole, and each part understands its innate need for every other part. Similarly, Buddhists speak of the self as a part of the "Net of Indra," where every being is viewed as a node in a vast fisherman's net, and where each of these nodes contains a mirror-like jewel that reflects the jewel present in every other node composing this vast net.
The point is that Jesus, as a transformed, divinely human person, possessed a self that was transparent to the light coming from every other genuine self on the planet. In other words, it was not a solid, contricted, leaden, billiard-ball ego-self that spoke the words "I am the way." Instead, it was the expansive, transparent, all-inclusive state of consciousness that indwelt him which spoke these words, a state that indwells every other transformed being as well.
Often, when I give a response such as this, the other person will exclaim: "Wow, your view seems so COMPLICATED! I prefer a much simpler view of things!" However, I would point out that a translucent view of self is no more complicated than a billiard-ball view of self. It's just that the evangelical's billiard-ball view of self is generally unconscious and unexamined, making it seem "simpler." In other words, they aren't even aware that they are approaching life from such a view. In reality, it is actually much simpler - and much more conducive to a harmonious, peaceful life-experience - to see life from an expansive Body-of-Christ or Net-or-Indra view of self rather than from that of the constricted billiard-ball self that is so much a part of our everyday experience of conflict!
Photo: Snow-lily backlit by late-day sun, with Mount Alice in the background; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013
Seeing Mother Earth as the second Person of the Holy Trinity
It is said that Tawa the Sun God and Spider Woman the Earth Goddess created all life. During creation, Tawa sang: “I am Tawa. I am Light. I am Life. I am the Father of all that shall ever come.” As Spider Woman shaped the thought of each creature into clay figures, Tawa bent his glowing eyes upon them and they came to life.
From a Hopi creation story
What would our spiritual lives be like if we viewed Mother Earth - the Goddess, Sophianic Wisdom - as the second Person of the Holy Trinity? Here, the third Person - the Holy Spirit / Holy Soul - would serve as the oneness or union of the Father's beyondness and the Mother's immanence. Would we take better care of the Earth if we viewed the spiritual Presence animating her not as an artifact made by the transcendent Father but as an equal partner in creation? After all, that is precisely how each of us was born into this world.
Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel blooming at Lion Lakes; Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Is it legitimate to "worship the Earth"?
Several days ago, an evangelical Christian asked me if I "worship the Earth." The implication was that if I did, that would be a clear instance of "worshiping the creation instead of the Creator" and would thus be a case of practicing idolatry. My short answer is this:
In some Christian quarters, Christ is viewed as an embodiment of Sophia, the feminine aspect of the Godhead. Even though individual creatures - plants, animals, mountains and clouds, for example - might be viewed as created, the feminine presence of Sophia Wisdom which underlies their material and emotional substance has a divine essence. We might also call this sophianic presence "Mother Earth" or the "Goddess." In any case, it is connected to the feminine aspect of Christ. I am assuming that since evangelicals have no qualms about worshiping Christ, they would also have no issue with worshiping a Christic sophianic presence that indwells all of creation, tying it all together as a single "body of Christ" or "Mother Earth" or "web of life."
Second, my experience is that God himself - the transcendent aspect of the Godhead - worships and adores the Earth. Here I appeal to the Song of Songs, which was considered by medieval monks to be the most spiritual book of the Bible. This book consists of a series of love poems spoken between two lovers: one masculine and one feminine. These two have traditionally been viewed as corresponding to God and the individual soul. In that book, the masculine lover (symbolizing God) is presented as continually adoring the feminine lover (symbolizing the soul and the Earth to which the soul is connected), even more intensely than the feminine lover is seen adoring the masculine lover.
Thus, employing the metaphor, we see God exclaiming to the soul: "How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh how beautiful! . . . There is no flaw in you . . . You have stolen my heart, . . . you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace . . . Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me!" The song proceeds to describe the feminine lover in terms of all kinds of sensate beings, including plants, spices, and animals, thus revealing the fact that the sophianic presence dwelling in the Earth is included in this praise as well.
My point is that we, as mediators of God's love to the world around us, are ALSO meant to praise and adore the Earth, just as God does. For only in this way will all creatures be awakened to the divinity which lies within them.
Photo: Alpine Bog Laurel with Mount Alice in the background; Lion Lakes, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 24, 2013
The Fern Lake Burn is recovering!
A few days ago I found this stump charred during the Fern Lake Fire last October, surrounded by Golden Banner flowers. I've noticed that the park visitors this spring and summer have really enjoyed exploring the burn and marveling at the signs of recovery that are already present.
Photo: Juniper snag, Rocky Mountain National Park, June 17, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
The tendency nowadays to wander in wildernesses is delightful to see.
"The tendency nowadays to wander in wildernesses is delightful to see. Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own little ongoings with those of Nature, and to get rid of rust and disease. Briskly venturing and roaming, some are washing off sins and cobweb cares of the devil's spinning in all-day storms on mountains; sauntering in rosiny pinewoods or in gentian meadows, . . . getting in touch with the nerves of Mother Earth; jumping from rock to rock, feeling the life of them, learning the songs of them, panting in whole-souled exercise, and rejoicing in deep, long-drawn breaths of pure wildness."
The Contemplative John Muir
Photo: Golden Banner and White Locoweed blooming in Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 17, 2013. This entire meadow burned in last October's Fern Lake Fire, and look at it now! Filled with wildflowers and emerald-green grass! Muir wrote this passage in "Our National Parks" in 1901.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
The holy sublimities of the mountains can shoot themselves into the dullest living human carcass.
"The holy sublimities of the mountains can shoot themselves into the dullest living human carcass through all the snarl of miseducation and mispropriety."
The Contemplative John Muir
Photo: Sunset, Lupines and Arthur's Rock; Lory State Park, CO; June 22, 2013
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