Excerpt; Biodesign Out For A Walk, chap. 13. “Canyon Visions.â€
“He snorted, “Jesus! Why in hell are you going there? I know that I’m a bigot, but I read National Geographic. So, after the umpteenth article, I told the wife we better go and see what all the fuss is about. Well, we drove to hell and gone and got there and couldn’t see a damn thing. We couldn’t even see the river at the bottom; we high-tailed it to Las Vegas. Now, that’s something to see.â€
The words were spoken by my late barber (RIP) and reflect the bipolar chasm between those who see “the works of God†in Grand Canyon and those who see emptiness.
While watching a sunset over Grand Canyon, poet Carl Sandburg mused:
Even though my wife does not like the following Van Dyke poem, I read it each year at the bottom of Grand Canyon. He is obviously using an uncharacteristic form of satire to question the logic or efficacy of believing in “nothing!†Indeed: A universe with; “no Captain on the ship?â€
Then is thy gorge a canyon of despair,
A prison for the soul of man, a grave
Of all his dearest daring hopes! The world
Wherein we live and move is meaningless,
No spirit here to answer to our own!
The stars without a guide: The chance-born Earth
Adrift in space, no Captain on the ship:
Nothing in all the universe to prove
Eternal wisdom and eternal love!
And man, the latest accident of Time,–
Who thinks he loves, and longs to understand,
Who vainly suffers, and in vain is brave,
Who dupes his heart with immortality,–
Man is a living lie,–a bitter jest
Upon himself,–a conscious grain of sand
Lost in a desert of unconsciousness,
Thirsting for God and mocked by his own thirst.
Grand Canyon: Daybreak: Henry Van Dyke
Both Sandburg and Van Dyke were poetic giants and both realized that Grand Canyon can be approached from “right†or “left†brain; from real or symbolic; from literal or metaphorical, from physical or spiritual perspectives. However, both of their views were from “The Rim†of Grand Canyon. Looking out over Grand Canyon is not unlike looking at the cover of a book. Both require opening.
One year, a group of guys pressed me to add three miles to our ascent and go out to Plateau Point. We had no idea that we were going to see a little miracle involving a visit by two ravens. We were looking 1800 feet down into The Canyon when:
“About a quarter mile beyond us, they suddenly locked their wings in the gliding mode. They banked to the left, made a swooping U- turn, and headed in our direction. I had never considered that birds could calculate, but their glide angle was such that they would be at our eye-level when they passed by. They were about 50 feet out in front of us, flying over the inner gorge. At the exact moment that they passed, they did a perfectly synchronized snap-roll, while making their familiar clicking sound. In a flash, they righted themselves and soared about 100 yards before they caught a thermal draft coming up from the lower canyon. With only minor wing beats, they gracefully ascended to their previous altitude, exited the thermal, and resumed their flight to the northwest.â€
Everyone was stunned into silence and as we silently resumed our ascent, one of the guys turned his head back over his shoulder and said, “I think I have just had a religious experience.â€
R.W. Emerson inferred that Grand Canyon is a metaphor for every human mind that beholds it. He would agree with explorer J. W. Powell, Sandburg and Van Dyke by proclaiming that Mystery reigns supreme and “scientism,†letters and graphics woefully fail to describe Grand Canyon. Little wonder my barber was confused.
Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk
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