“Falling, falling, falling now… Waterfall music.”
-Matsuo Basho
Falling, Falling…
Category Archives: Glacier National Park
A Holy Curiosity
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reasons for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”
Albert Einstein
“In the next twenty centuries…humanity may begin to understand its most baffling mystery—where are we going? The earth is, in fact, traveling many thousands of miles per hour in the direction of the constellation Hercules—to some unknown destination in the cosmos. Man must understand his universe in order to understand his destiny.
Mystery, however, is a very necessary ingredient in our lives…Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis for man’s desire to understand. Who knows what mysteries will be solved in our lifetime, and what new riddles will become the challenge of the new generation? Science has not mastered prophesy. We predict too much for the next year yet far too little for the next ten. Responding to challenges is one of democracy’s great strengths. Our successes in space can be sued in the next decade in the solution of many of our planet’s problems.”
Neil Armstrong
As If On a Mist
there are placesplaces on earththat are magical.that no words canhope to describe.where your soulempty and drainedis restored.where the whispers of angelsshimmer through the treesas if on a mist.perfectly and peacefully.and gently floatingon the warm spring breeze.drifting weaving.falling on my facefilling me with grace.-Michael Traveler, from “Places”
Interaction
“The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.”-Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
Never Lost
“I am never lost in the mountains, it is where I find myself”
-Lee Hiller
Center of Our Being
“May we not neglect the silenceprinted in the center of our being.It will not fail us.”-Thomas Merton
You Are Earth
“You are comprised of: 84 minerals, 23 Elements, and 8 gallons of water spread across 38 trillion cells. You have been built up from nothing by the spare parts of the Earth you have consumed, according to a set of instructions hidden in a double helix and small enough to be carried by a sperm. You are recycled butterflies, plants, rocks, streams, firewood, wolf fur, and shark teeth, broken down to their smallest parts and rebuilt into our planet’s most complex living thing. You are not living on Earth. You are Earth.”– Aubrey Marcus
“Nature is not matter only. She is also spirit.”– Carl Jung
An Acre, Any Being, Any Waterway
“When you truly love any acre, any being, any waterway, you love them all and realize you’re intimately connected. You can’t change everything, but you can love it all.”
-Kitty O’Meara (from 4/26/21 blog post “Ordinary Things of Conspicuous Value” – The Daily Round
The Beauty of the Trees, The Softness of the Air
“The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,…speaks to me.The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky… speaks to me.The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning… speaks to me.The strength of fire, the trail of the sun and the life that never goes away. They speak to me and my heart soars.”~Chief Dan George
They speak to me too…
Mountains, Woods, Rivers, Lakes, Beaches – Find Me Inside
Mountains, Woods, Rivers, Lakes, Beaches….
This is the God or nature of Spinoza:
“God would have said:
Stop praying and punching yourself in the chest!What I want you to do is go out into the world and enjoy your life.I want you to enjoy, sing, have fun and enjoy everything I’ve made for you.Stop going to those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and say they are my house!My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That’s where I live and there I express my love for you.Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing!Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don’t blame me for everything they made you believe.Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can’t read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son’s eyes…you will find me in no book!Trust me and stop asking me. Will you tell me how to do my job?Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you, I criticize you, nor get angry, or bother, or punishment. I am pure love.Stop asking for forgiveness, there’s nothing to forgive. If I made you… I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies… free will. How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How can I punish you for being the way you are, if I’m the one who made you Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity?What kind of god can do that?Forget any kind of commandments, any kind of laws; those are wiles to manipulate you, to control you, that only create guilt in you.Respect your peers and don’t do what you don’t want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life, that your alert is your guide.My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step, not a step in the way, not a rehearsal, nor a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now and all you need.I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.You are absolutely free to create in your life heaven or hell.I could tell you if there’s anything after this life but I can give you a tip. Live as if there is no. As if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist.So, if there’s nothing, then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is, rest assured that I won’t ask if you behaved right or wrong, I’ll ask. Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?…Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don’t want you to believe in me, I want you to feel in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.Stop praising me, what kind of egomaniac God do you think I am?I’m bored being praised, I’m tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of you, your health, your relationships, the world. Feeling looked at, shocked?… Express your joy! That’s the way to praise me.Stop complicating things and repeating as a parakeet what you’ve been taught about me.The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.What do you need more miracles for? Why so many explanations?
look for me outside, you won’t find me. Find me inside… there I am beating on you.”-Spinoza