Zion National Park – A Gallery of Photos
Category Archives: Sweet Breathing
A Sanctuary of Peace and Refuge
Zion. The word evokes a place of sanctuary – of peace and refuge. The majestic red rocks of Zion National Park are in a state of continual change. The feeling of ancient wisdom, calm, peace, and movement – of evolving – are so palpable here. A deep knowing energy pervades the air, the earth, the rocks.
“Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution?
I suspect that it does…”
-Edward Abbey
Large Cathedrals and Small Chapels
Here immersed in these extravagant wonders formed over millennia, are cathedrals of stone so immense they cover an expanse as far as the eye can see. Within these grand cathedrals, in every nook, are small chapels of amazement. Every glance a testament, a long look a revelation. An acknowledgement.
“A weird, lovely, fantastic object out of nature like Delicate Arch has the curious ability to remind us—like rock and sunlight and wind and wilderness—that out there is a different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which surrounds and sustains the little world of men as sea and sky surround and sustain a ship. The shock of the real. For a little while we are again able to see, as the child sees, a world of marvels. For a few moments we discover that nothing can be taken for granted, for if this ring of stone is marvelous then all which shaped it is marvelous, and our journey here on earth, able to see and touch and hear in the midst of tangible and mysterious things-in-themselves, is the most strange and daring of all adventures.”
-Edward Abbey
Stone Poetry
The ranger at the entrance station for Bryce National Park provides a brochure that explains the science behind the majestic spires, cathedrals, layers of colors, sculptures… but the facts can’t prepare you for the wonder of it all. The scale, the quiet, the sacred feeling that pervades – all are immense. Travelers talk in whispers. We glance at each other with a sort of shrug that says, “How can we take in all this?” It is sacred, it is all encompassing, it is peace.
“If a man knew enough he could write a whole book about the juniper tree. Not juniper trees in general but that one particular juniper tree that grows from a ledge of naked sandstone near the old entrance to Arches National Monument.”
-Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire, A Season in the Wilderness
Traveling the Inner & Outer Roads
“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.”
-Lillian Smith
“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.”
-Anatole France
“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.”
-Paul Theroux
“Not all who wander are lost.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
A New Way of Seeing Things
A journey begins… traveling south away from these northwest wonders and into new ones. Open to each and every experience and opening.
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
-Henry Miller
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
-Miriam Beard
A Handful of Sand
“We take a handful of sand from the endless landscape of awareness around us and call that handful of sand the world.”
-Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
There is SO much more to be aware of! Take a minute. Allow several long sweet breaths. Notice the depth that is possible in this moment. Be aware of the wonders – the possibilities – the connections – the expansion and the deepening….
Explore the endless landscape of awareness.
The Treasure is Inside You
“The treasure that you are seeking, is inside you.
The beauty of the sound is that it opens doorways for you to go inside…
to make contact with that which you already have”.
~Tom Kenyon
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
-Carl Jung
…”Your still, quiet waters run deep. Go to the water. Ask. Listen. The advice you seek is in YOU.”
-Kris Carr
The inner world is a big, ever and all knowing universe. As huge as the expanding cosmos, a lifetime of exploration contained there. The vibration of atoms and quarks and bosons constantly moving and creating. As the movement of the Milky Way, constellations, star nebulas so the movement and vibrations of particles that make up everything. We are made of stardust!
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
-Carl Sagan
Earth Mother
“The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”
-Chief Joseph
“Happy day to all those who mother- whether or not you have ever given birth. Some of the best mothering I have received has been from friends, some of whom do not have children. They have fed me, held me, listened to me (endlessly! ) & given me strength. I bow to all those who tend & befriend. And I bow to our shared Mother, the Earth- who supports & sustains us.”
-Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Nature’s Art – A Gallery of Photos
“What is art but a way of seeing?”
-Saul Bellow
“What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.”
-Albert Einstein