Nature has the ability to be imbued with spiritual power and significance. Forests, lakes, and mountains often invoke a feeling of the divine or inspire a sense of awe. They are a resource that people may use to connect to the sacred and to generate spiritual feelings.
Ever since the publication of Darwin’s, “On The Origin Of Species,†and the collective discovery of the “Big Bang Theory,†there has been a steady increase in the number of neo-scientists who have overtly thrown God out with baptismal water.
However, in 1946, Loren Eiseley, world-renown anthropologist, became “a lone voice in the wilderness†and rebutted the trend by celebrating the mystical powers of Mother Nature. In his masterful book, “The Immense Journey,†he described miracles, marvels and wonders. He also warned about the dangers of scientists becoming intoxicated by their success and writing false narratives that “proved†that they are smarter than God. After writing 11 books, his conclusion was, the Mystery still exists.
Eiseley received numerous awards including the Pierre Lecomte du Noüy award which was given to authors who identified the overarching themes that unite science and religion.
In his book, “Religion—Values—Peak Experiences,†psychologist Abraham Maslow acknowledged the schism when he wrote, “Sooner or later, we shall have to redefine both religion and science.â€
Darwin acknowledged the ambiguity in his autobiography:
“This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.â€Â
According to Edwin Way Teal (editor: The Wilderness World of John Muir) Muir was a scientist, a poet, a mystic, a philosopher and a humorist. The mystic in him wrote:
“No sane man in the hands of Nature can doubt the doubleness of his life. Soul and body receive separate nourishment and separate exercise, and speedily reach a stage of development wherein each is easily apart from the other.†– John Of The Mountains.Â
Whether Muir was aware of 13-th century German philosopher/mystic/theologian Meister Eckhart or not, they had much in common. Like Muir, Eckhart was criticized for his visionary thinking. Muir’s struggles with finding words to describe the Sierra Nevada Mountains resonate with Eckhart’s description of words:
“It is the nature of a word to reveal what is hidden. The word that is hidden still sparkles in the darkness and whispers in the silence. It entices us to pursue it and to yearn and sigh after it. For it wishes to reveal to us something about God.â€
John Steinbeck addressed the mystery of words in Cannery Row:
“The Word is a symbol and a delight which sucks up men and scenes, trees, plants, factories, and Pekinese. Then the Thing becomes the Word and back to Thing again, but warped and woven into a fantastic pattern.â€Â
Muir’s life and legacy resonates with present-day priest/theologian Matthew Fox who envisioned the movement called, Creation Spirituality. He also extolled the benefits of believing in “original blessing†rather than the more dour belief of “original sin.â€
The human struggle to unravel the mysticism of Nature has challenged scientists, sages, poets and prophets for thousands of years. Muir’s contemporary and fellow transcendentalist R-W Emerson wrote:
“The whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind.â€
While traveling through California’s redwood forest, John Steinbeck wrote:
“No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know; they are ambassadors from another time.†~John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley In Search of America.
Muir’s fellow Naturalist, John Wesley Powell became the first known human to successfully navigate the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. After a 3-month perilous journey he emerged to write:
“The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail.â€
Eiseley correctly observed that scientists dismissed the “Creation Story†as an unproveable myth, only to replace it with the “Big Bang Theory†which is equally unprovable, e.g., T minus one.  He ends, “The Immense Journey†with the illuminating summation:
“Rather, I would say that if “dead matter†has reared up this curious landscape of fiddling crickets, song sparrows, and wondering men, it must be plain even to the most devoted materialist that the matter of what he speaks contains amazing, if not dreadful powers, and may not impossibly be as Hardy has suggested, ‘but one mask of many worn by the Great Face behind.â€