In the Presence of Spiritual Giants

Posted on August 12, 2020 Leave a Comment

This letter is a rebuttal to the Sierra Club’s odious attempt to besmirch the legacy and writing of John Muir, their legendary founder. It is my contention that, like every human on Earth, Muir was imperfect yet he achieved the status of two world-renown spiritual paragons.

St. Francis of Assisi

Indulged by his parents, Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man. He was handsome, witty, gallant, and delighted in fine clothes. He spent money lavishly until a chance encounter with a beggar. The encounter transformed every fiber of his being and led to him taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Francis preached the Christian doctrine that the world was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for redemption because of human sin. As someone who saw God reflected in nature, St. Francis was a great lover of God’s creation. In the Canticle of the Sun he gives God thanks for Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth, all of which he sees as rendering praise to God. (adapted from Wikipedia)

The spirit of St. Francis is alive and well with over 1,000 friars and over 40 Franciscan colleges or universities throughout the US.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

There are accounts of Ignatius of Loyola being a fancy dresser, an expert dancer, and a womanizer. However, during a religious awakening the writing that most particularly struck him was the De Vita Christi of Ludolph of Saxony. This book would influence his whole life, inspiring him to devote himself to God and follow the example of Francis of Assisi and other great monks.

After his conversion he created the brotherhood of Jesuits and sent his companions as missionaries around Europe to create schools, colleges, and seminaries. Currently there are 189 universities around the world that are dedicated to his values.

The spirit of Ignatius is alive and thrives in the hearts and minds of millions of teachers, students and followers throughout the world.

John of the Mountains

John Muir was born into a poor Scottish family with a father who brutally mistreated him ostensibly for religious reasons. As a young man he no doubt carried his youth-born scars to Yosemite where he underwent a transcending healing experience. Although most followers of Muir’s life and legacy tacitly understand that some of his descriptions of non-Caucasians were the result of using the vernacular of the times, they understand that historical context is often as important as anecdotal evidence.

Although Muir was mostly self-taught, he was highly educated. He would have known about brilliant scientists Galileo and Newton. He would have been familiar with great musicians such as Bach and Beethoven. He would have known great artists like Michelangelo and Rembrandt and he often carried a copy of Milton’s Paradise Lost and The New Testament with him. Robert Burns was his favorite poet and he knew many Shakespeare passages by heart. In that time period, knowing what he did, it would have been illogical for him to regard people who could not read or write or add a column of numbers as equals.

Muir went on to arguably become the greatest Naturalist in the world, whose life and legacy have inspired, guided, and encouraged countless millions to become “baptized in Nature.”

“John the Baptist was not more eager to get all his fellow sinners into the Jordan than I to baptize all of mine in the beauty of God’s mountains.”

For many extended periods in his adult life, Muir lived alone, in the wilderness, sustained by dried bread balls and tea. This is a life-style that is practiced only in some of the most austere monasteries and it should not be surprising that his writings often convey a message of holiness.

His vision of “eco-spirituality” and preserving natural wonderlands as places to “play and pray” has spread globally. Before Muir’s time there were zero national parks in the world; today there are over 4,000. In the US, there are 62 designated National Parks and 559 National Monuments, Preserves and historical sites with 327 million annual visitors. State Parks in the US number over 10,000 with more visitors than the USNPS.

So the Sierra Club has proclaimed that Muir’s life and legacy encourage racism and white supremacy. In a profound irony, if he were alive today, I submit that he would be the first to agree that some of his vernacular would not be appropriate. However, the president of The Sierra Club has exercised his God-given right of free will in a cowardly act of casting the first stone. He may have his 5-minutes of fame, but Muir will maintain his saintly aura in the hearts of millions of devoted followers long after “what’s-his-name?” has left the planet.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Yin-Yang—Divine Green Slime—Biodesign

Posted on June 27, 2018 1 Comment

The two quintessential decisions that led to the birth of the Biodesign Class at St. Helena High School were adopting John Muir as our primary mentor and planning a six-day trip to Yosemite N.P. to explore what he was writing about. In preparation for each trip we pondered The Wilderness World Of John Muir (edited by Edwin Teale). In his introduction, Teal noted that although Muir belonged to no organized religion, he was deeply religious and boldly credited God for creating Earth and the universe. Furthermore, he wrote: “He was by turn a scientist, a poet, a mystic, a philosopher, a humorist. Because he saw everything, mountains and streams and landscapes, as evolving, unfinished, in the process of creation, there is a pervading sense of vitality in all he wrote.”

The two operative words were “evolving” and “creation.” Although beautifully written, Teale presented me with the dilemma of how to introduce public high school students to Muir’s philosophy without violating the spirit of the law separating church and state. The emerging class embraced the freedom to discuss all things biological, which included a thoughtful, unbiased, approach to the great evolution debate.

In a wonderfully ironic twist, a partial solution to our dilemma came from ancient China. The Chinese yin-yang philosophy describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Yin-yang philosophy can be applied to the great debate of creationism vs. Darwin’s theory of evolution. The Universe, including all forms of life, is in a constant process of evolving, yet everything that evolves had to be created.

Although most students grasped the yin-yang concept, understandably, many had difficulty visualizing any possible physical—spiritual interaction. Most were not satisfied with the current scientific explanation of evolution being the result of random chance and competition. In a perfectly timed synchronicity, while one class was pondering the Muir—Darwin dichotomy, S.F. Chronicle legendary columnist, Art Hoppe, wrote the following column.

Excerpt: Biodesign Out For A Walk, Chap. 11, Matthew. The Landlord’s Slime.

Scene: The Heavenly Real Estate Office.

The Landlord, humming to himself, is craning forward to hang a mediocre-sized galaxy of a hundred billion suns on the far edge of the cosmos. His business agent, Mr. Gabriel, enters, golden trumpet in hand.

Gabriel: Excuse me, sir. A noisy debate’s broken out on that planet Earth. The tenants are fighting over how the place was made.

Landlord: (frowning) Earth? Let’s see … Is that the one I patched together out of drifting stardust, rainbow wisps, and a few million snatches of birdsong?

Gabriel: No, that was Arcturus 4673-a.

Landlord: Good me! After a couple of zillion, it’s hard to recall exactly how …

What do the tenants say?

Gabriel: Well, the fundamentalists say that you created the whole shebang in six days with sort of a wave of your hand.

Landlord: (nodding) Yes, yes, I could have done it that way.

Gabriel: But the scientists claim that it evolved over 4 billion years.

Landlord: Six days? Four billion years? What’s the difference, Gabriel?

Gabriel: That’s easy for you to say, sir; you’re not in a hurry. But to their finite little minds, it’s an eternity.

Landlord: How do the scientists think life began?

Gabriel: The scientists say it could have started when some free- floating chemicals, perhaps in a tide pool, were zapped by a bolt of lightning.

Landlord: Ah! That sounds like me.

Gabriel: This created microscopic one-celled life-forms, which soon evolved into a thimbleful of green slime. Really, sir, why would you create green slime? It sounds sacrilegious.

Landlord: If it’s my green slime, it’s divine green slime.

Gabriel: Yes, sir. Anyway, you apparently told the green slime to go forth and multiply.

Landlord: “Go forth and multiply, green slime!” I like the ring to that.

Gabriel: Well, it certainly did multiply. According to the scientists, it multiplied into paramecia and sea worms and oysters and fish and great whales.

Landlord: How wonderful!

Gabriel: And at long last, the scientists say, the fish crawled up on the land to become the fowl of the air and the beasts of the field.

Landlord: How dramatic!

Gabriel: Finally the beasts stood erect as hairy, apelike creatures who …

Landlord: (thoughtfully) Perhaps I should have stopped there.

Gabriel: … in the end became man.

Landlord: What a lovely, lovely story, Gabriel. When I think of all the fish of the sea, the beasts of the land, the fowl of the air in all their shapes so singular and strange, in all their myriad colors, dappled and striped and iridescent, swimming and slithering and soaring … All this emerging from a thimbleful of green slime! I … What was that argument about again, Gabriel?

Gabriel: Basically, sir, it’s over whether children in school should be taught to believe in cold, scientific facts or you—ordained miracles.

Landlord: I know that, Gabriel (frowning), but what’s the difference?

Hoppe’s column was a brilliant allegory, which arrived at a perfect time. He not only used satire to illuminate the absurdity of the debate, but his “Landlord” aligned with Muir’s philosophy. I firmly believe that the column should be shared with every high school and university biology student.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

100 GLORIOUS YEARS OF US NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Posted on August 22, 2016 1 Comment

Thursday, 8-25-16 marks the 100^th anniversary of the US National Park Service. The NPS has often been described as, “America’s Greatest Idea,” and if this is so, John Muir may arguably be considered “America’s greatest naturalist.”

It is impossible to imagine how the Park Service would have evolved without his vision, passion and dedication. After camping in Yosemite with Muir, Teddy Roosevelt was so profoundly moved that after he returned to Washington, D.C. he set aside an astounding 230 million acres, which became the beginning of the National Forest Service and National Parks Service. Annual visits to all NPS facilities are approaching 300 million, with nearly $30 billion being generated from recreation and “ecotourism.”

In the fall of 1973, under the guidance of principal Dr. William Noble, St. Helena High School initiated a revolutionary advanced biology curriculum that included examining the life, wisdom and spirituality of the legendary Muir. The new class considered contemporary biological and ecological concepts, and following Muir’s lead, students were invited to consider the possibility of their own spirituality.

Not surprisingly, the new class called, “Biodesign,” became a lightning rod, not only drawing criticism from non-believers, but surprisingly from some local Christian clerics. In an ironic disconnect, critics were generally in favor of National Parks, however some of them vehemently objected to references to Muir’s spiritual invocations in a public school. They were not persuaded by the fact that he became widely known as the, “Father of the National Park Service,” a sobriquet not lacking in spiritual overtones.

The Biodesign Class lasted 24 years and involved 63 wilderness adventures including trips to Yosemite, Grand Canyon and the Mendocino coast. Following Muir’s guidance, many students exulted in spiritual awakenings that were not necessarily associated with any particular religion.

Several years after I retired, I decided to follow John Muir’s model and attempted the impossible; describing nature-induced epiphanies. The process resulted in a book whose title reflects the essence of Muir: Biodesign Out For A Walk.

After the book was released, I fully expected to be challenged from aforementioned critics, including secular scientists. After all, suggesting that Carl Sagan’s explanation of the origin of life was purely science fiction was tantamount to challenging the humanist’s god. Surprisingly, all of the reviews and comments I have received have been positive except for one.

The lone critic was an ex-student who informed me that Henry Thoreau was historically far more important than John Muir because of his intellectual superiority and writing style. These are legitimate, arguable issues, however, he went on to describe Muir as lacking an “inquisitive mind.”

Every man’s opinion is his sacred privilege, however, I was intrigued that anyone who had studied John Muir could possibly arrive at that conclusion.

Both men became literary giants who agreed that nature was a pathway for human transcendence. Both engendered thoughts and deeds that influenced world history. Muir emerged from the wilderness like a bearded prophet proclaiming the healing power of Nature.

Thoreau emerged from Walden Pond and described the importance of “civil disobedience” as a way to avoid the “galling harness of society.”

Muir’s legacy led to raising worldwide recognition of the importance of conservation and “eco-spirituality.”

Thoreau inspired millions, and prompted Mahatma Gandhi to lead the ousting of the British Raj government in India and later encouraged Dr. Martin Luther King to peacefully protest the cruel injustice of racism in the US.

However, in terms of an “inquisitive mind”?

After moving to the US, at age eleven, Muir would go to bed at 9:00 PM, sleep until 1:00 AM and get up to carve various inventions. Then he would work from dawn to dusk on the family farm. He attended the University of Wisconsin without graduating, but became a self-taught mechanical engineer. Eventually, he invented over 50 mechanical tools, devices and machines that improved the efficiency in woodworking mills. Interestingly, he refused to take out any patents believing that all of his inventions; “were inspired by God and therefore belonged to all mankind.”

When he nearly blinded one of his eyes, he vowed to “stop studying the works of man and begin to study the works of God.” He began with a 1,000 mile-walk to Florida and planned to follow Baron Von Humboldt’s studies in South America. Unfortunately (or maybe not) he contracted malaria and his doctor advised him to move to the dryer climate of California. His discoveries and descriptions of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada Mts. became legendary and were widely distributed around the US and even abroad.

Muir founded the Sierra Club, which became a powerful voice in California conservation and was primarily responsible for saving the remaining 5% of the virgin redwood forest. However, his greatest contribution was his vision of the US National Park Service. Today there are over 400 National Parks, reserves and monuments, nearly 7000 state parks in the US and his thesis that parks are necessary for spiritual renewal has gone global.

However, one of his greatest acts of being inquisitive came near the end of his life. At the age of 72, he began a 40,000-mile, 7-month exploration. When he got to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he took a 1200-mile, round-trip train ride into the Andes Mountains, simply for the privilege of sleeping under an araucaria (monkey-puzzle) tree. He knew that the araucarias were among the oldest seed-bearing plants on Earth and communing with them had been a lifelong dream.

He combined sailing and walking from New York to South America, across the Atlantic Ocean to the Canary Islands; circumnavigated Africa with many stops for exploring; sailed through the Red and Mediterranean Seas and back to New York.

Muir literally and figuratively walked around the world several times, exploring five continents in response to his lifelong quest for knowledge.

Poets claim that “everything is ironic” and in this case, if I had not selected John Muir as a primary mentor, the Biodesign Class and Biodesign Out For A Walk would not have happened and my critic would not have been in a position to question the efficacy of my choice of Muir as the most “inquisitive” and proficient wilderness guide.

Happy 100th Anniversary National Parks.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

This article originally appeared on NapaValleyRegister. Your comments are welcome at young.lowell@gmail.com or connect with me on Facebook.

Transcendence and the Velveteen Rabbit

Posted on September 2, 2015 Leave a Comment

Transcendent: adjective; transcendent is extraordinary or beyond human experience.

I highly recommend viewing the beautiful and informative video that the NPS did on Half Dome. Yosemite Nature Notes – Half Dome

I was supremely blessed to have slept on top of The Dome with 20 biology classes (when it was still legal). Each night offered a transcending experience that altered how I saw Nature, humanity and God. Like The Velveteen Rabbit becoming “real,” transcending experiences can be soul-transforming and last forever.

John Muir, Henry Thoreau and R.W. Emerson were proponents of the transcending power of Nature. The three men were not necessarily referring to single event, but events that can occur many times in wilderness settings. Although they may or may not involve an experience with a Supreme Being, Muir welcomed his followers to “come to the mountains and be ‘born again.’” It is not uncommon for people to have “out-of-body” experiences where their spirits are free to roam in the universe. Somehow, words like infinity and eternity often take on a deeper meaning. In fact, if dangling your feet over 4,800 of “free air” on the “Diving Board,” on top of Half Dome, does not move you, you may not have a spirit-pulse. One of the common results of transcending experiences is goosebumps. Goosebumps are the autonomic nervous system’s response to foreign (wilderness) events. The ancient part of the brain seems to comprehend that there are no words to describe the experience and a surge of adrenaline is released by the endocrine system to prepare the body for a “fight-or-flight” reaction. Spiritual fights and flights are often quite scary.

Excerpt: Biodesign Out For A Walk, Chap. 4, A Class Is Born.

Toby wrote:

“When we got to the top of Half Dome, we began to explore. I was drawn to the edge and amazed by the grandeur. I saw a slab of rock, known as The Diving Board, projecting out over the edge and into Yosemite Valley. The slab was about six-feet wide, twelve- feet long and about four-feet deep. I carefully inched my way out. Slowly, slowly, I decided to focus on the rock and not look down. When I got to the end, I very carefully stuck one leg at a time over the edge. After I was settled, I leaned over and looked down be-tween my legs into 4,800 hundred feet of “free air.” At first, I couldn’t breathe, and then my balls jumped up into my chest. I was about to explode. My heart was pounding. I thought if an earthquake hits now, it’s all over. I quickly got back on my knees, carefully pivoted, and crept back to safety.”

Intuitively, Toby described a powerful, visceral reaction to his transcending experience.

One year, the day that the Biodesign Class returned to school after their 6-day Yosemite trip, a group of them were out on the quad jubilantly discussing their experience. One of the senior boys, who was a vocal critic of the Class and me, approached a newly returned buddy and asked, “So, have you changed”? The Biodesigner beamed broadly and exclaimed, “You bet and it feels great.” His friend snorted and replied, “It’s just like I said, that Class is nothing more than a religious cult.”

One of my favorite Zen koans claims, “No two people have ever met and departed unchanged.” The same can be said for wilderness experiences. No “normal” human can enter the wilderness and emerge unchanged. Transcendence is a beautiful spiritual gift.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

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THE GRAND CANYON—Henry Van Dyke

Posted on August 24, 2015 Leave a Comment

Warning: Henry Van Dyke’s epic poem, “THE GRAND CANYON,” is “soul food” and beyond the “fast-food” attention span. However, it just might be the most important poem you will ever read.Van Dyke plumbs the depth of Grand Canyon and the depth of the human soul. He challenges believers and non-believers to set aside their baggage of religious and scientific bias, pettiness, myths and shallow thinking and become one with Grand Canyon. Van Dyke concedes that, like the words infinity and eternity, Grand Canyon cannot be defined yet, as a poet, he cannot contain himself. There are one-liners galore that will convict, cajole, console, compel, comfort and inspire. Nothing will compare with hiking Grand Canyon, however, Van Dyke’s poem offers a hint of the mystery of transcending the human body and briefly becoming “at one” with the universe.

DAYBREAK

What makes the lingering Night so cling to thee?
Thou vast, profound, primeval hiding-place
Of ancient secrets,–gray and ghostly gulf
Cleft in the green of this high forest land,
And crowded in the dark with giant forms!
Art thou a grave, a prison, or a shrine?

A stillness deeper than the dearth of sound
Broods over thee: a living silence breathes
Perpetual incense from thy dim abyss.
The morning-stars that sang above the bower
Of Eden, passing over thee, are dumb
With trembling bright amazement; and the Dawn
Steals through the glimmering pines with naked feet,
Her hand upon her lips, to look on thee!
She peers into thy depths with silent prayer
For light, more light, to part thy purple veil.
O Earth, swift-rolling Earth, reveal, reveal,–
Turn to the East, and show upon thy breast
The mightiest marvel in the realm of Time!

‘Tis done,–the morning miracle of light,–
The resurrection of the world of hues
That die with dark, and daily rise again
With every rising of the splendid Sun!

Be still, my heart! Now Nature holds her breath
To see the solar flood of radiance leap
Across the chasm, and crown the western rim
Of alabaster with a far-away
Rampart of pearl, and flowing down by walls
Of changeful opal, deepen into gold
Of topaz, rosy gold of tourmaline,
Crimson of garnet, green and gray of jade,
Purple of amethyst, and ruby red,
Beryl, and sard, and royal porphyry;
Until the cataract of colour breaks
Upon the blackness of the granite floor.

How far below! And all between is cleft
And carved into a hundred curving miles
Of unimagined architecture! Tombs,
Temples, and colonnades are neighboured there
By fortresses that Titans might defend,
And amphitheatres where Gods might strive.
Cathedrals, buttressed with unnumbered tiers
Of ruddy rock, lift to the sapphire sky
A single spire of marble pure as snow;
And huge aerial palaces arise
Like mountains built of unconsuming flame.
Along the weathered walls, or standing deep
In riven valleys where no foot may tread,
Are lonely pillars, and tall monuments
Of perished aeons and forgotten things.
My sight is baffled by the wide array
Of countless forms: my vision reels and swims
Above them, like a bird in whirling winds.
Yet no confusion fills the awful chasm;
But spacious order and a sense of peace
Brood over all. For every shape that looms
Majestic in the throng, is set apart
From all the others by its far-flung shade,
Blue, blue, as if a mountain-lake were there.

How still it is! Dear God, I hardly dare
To breathe, for fear the fathomless abyss
Will draw me down into eternal sleep.

What force has formed this masterpiece of awe?
What hands have wrought these wonders in the waste?
O river, gleaming in the narrow rift
Of gloom that cleaves the valley’s nether deep,–
Fierce Colorado, prisoned by thy toil,
And blindly toiling still to reach the sea,–
Thy waters, gathered from the snows and springs
Amid the Utah hills, have carved this road
Of glory to the Californian Gulf.
But now, O sunken stream, thy splendour lost,
‘Twixt iron walls thou rollest turbid waves,
Too far away to make their fury heard!

At sight of thee, thou sullen labouring slave
Of gravitation,–yellow torrent poured
From distant mountains by no will of thine,
Through thrice a hundred centuries of slow
Fallings and liftings of the crust of Earth,–
At sight of thee my spirit sinks and fails.
Art thou alone the Maker? Is the blind
Unconscious power that drew thee dumbly down
To cut this gash across the layered globe,
The sole creative cause of all I see?
Are force and matter all? The rest a dream?

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.

Spirit of Beauty, mother of delight,
Thou fairest offspring of Omnipotence
Inhabiting this lofty lone abode,
Speak to my heart again and set me free
From all these doubts that darken earth and heaven!
Who sent thee forth into the wilderness
To bless and comfort all who see thy face?
Who clad thee in this more than royal robe
Of rainbows? Who designed these jewelled thrones
For thee, and wrought these glittering palaces?
Who gave thee power upon the soul of man
To lift him up through wonder into joy?
God! let the radiant cliffs bear witness, God!
Let all the shining pillars signal, God!
He only, on the mystic loom of light.
Hath woven webs of loveliness to clothe
His most majestic works: and He alone
Hath delicately wrought the cactus-flower
To star the desert floor with rosy bloom.

O Beauty, handiwork of the Most High,
Where’er thou art He tells his Love to man,
And lo, the day breaks, and the shadows flee!

Now, far beyond all language and all art
In thy wild splendour, Canyon marvellous,
The secret of thy stillness lies unveiled
In wordless worship! This is holy ground;
Thou art no grave, no prison, but a shrine.
Garden of Temples filled with Silent Praise,
If God were blind thy Beauty could not be!

February 24-26, 1913.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

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Forty Year Circle Of Love

Posted on May 11, 2015 Leave a Comment

Contrary to what “modern” scientists claim, miracles can and do still happen.

Although it was marvelous, it was not a surprise to see Wayne post, “Love that musing,” about Sharka’s last post. In fact, I would also not be surprised if he found her words and photo spine tingling, soul-touching and heartwarming. After all, 40 years ago this spring, Wayne was a sophomore at St. Helena High School and he had just devoured Richard Bach’s powerful little book, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” Ironically, Bach’s “New-Age Spirituality” resonated mysteriously with the ancient wisdom of Wayne’s Native American, Choctaw heritage. What became a monumental turning point in his life evolved from the simple acceptance of Bach’s challenge:

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.” ― Richard Bach

The hybridization of beliefs led Wayne to enroll in a fledgling, experimental advanced biology class called Biodesign. This eventually led him to a beach in Mendocino Ca. where he underwent a spiritual awakening that can only be described as a modern miracle. The event not only radically changed his life, but mine as well and the evolution of the Biodesign Class.

Understandably, he wanted to share his miracle with others and so he went on to become an ordained priest and dedicated his life to serving the spiritual needs of others. It is not hyperbole to say that his life and work have touched the minds, hearts and souls of many thousands of people around the world, and include planting seeds of love and laughter in India. His latest calling is ministering to people whose lives have been spiritually ravaged by alcohol and substance abuse.

As a biology teacher, trained in “traditional methods and materials of biology,” the word “miracle” was not in my lexicon. Wayne’s spiritual encounter was a “wake-up-call” that perhaps I was missing some of the most important lessons of biology.

“ For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark: 8:36, KJV

Neither one of us knew it at the time, but Wayne’s epiphany was a catalyst for me to add the unprecedented “spiritual dimension” to the Biodesign Class. Actually, this was nothing more than illuminating and emulating the works of John Muir, R.W. Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and countless other inspired Naturalists. Their collective message that man must go into the wilderness and seek being “born again” is the same message that Richard Bach, Black Elk, Rumi, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Moses and Jesus Christ all described as an essential aspect of becoming a harmoniously balanced physical, mental and spiritual human being.

A few years later, I discovered the amazing book, “The Immense Journey,” by Loren Eiseley who wrote:

“The reader who would pursue such a journey with me is warned that the essays in this book have not been brought together as a guide but are offered rather as a somewhat unconventional record of the prowlings of one mind which has sought to explore, to understand, and to enjoy the miracles of this world, both in and out of science.”

Wayne’s story, briefly recorded in “Biodesign Out For A Walk,” is potentially a very scary story. Every reader will draw his/her own conclusions, but some will likely be forced to view Wayne, as one British scientist described C.S. Lewis, as either a liar, lunatic or “Bozo the Clown,” or an honest young man who went through a transcending experience that cannot be described in Earthly terms. Those who are courageous enough to read it may intuitively understand that for such an event to occur, their egos will likely have to be diminished. For many, the bright lights of “civilization” have spiritually blinded them and they will not be capable of:

“overcoming the limitation of believing what their eyes are telling them and discovering how to spiritually fly.”

As far as the evolution of the Biodesign Class, it is impossible to discern the overlapping boundaries between Wayne and Me. Truly, without him, and countless other spiritually curious and courageous students, I would have spent my teaching career thinking that dissecting pigs was the ultimate experience for high school advanced biology students.

Little wonder Wayne commented, “Love the Musing.” (that Sharka posted)

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

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Doctor—Lawyer—Indian—Chief

Posted on January 12, 2015 Leave a Comment

Perhaps the most common mantra I chanted was, “I don’t care what you think, I care deeply that you think.” Contrary to what many people think, an overwhelming amount of education involves massive memorization and minimal original thought. I preferred the Socratic method of teaching, which involved asking students what they thought about reading assignments, and literature cited. If what they thought was their prerogative, what their eventual life-style, career choice or spiritual path (if any) was even more so.

Most students went on to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, engineers, architects, social workers, psychologists, biologists, house-wives (or house-husbands) and several became ministers, pastors and priests.

Wayne Neller is a Choctaw Nation/St. Helena Native. He attended local schools and after graduating from St. Helena High School, became an Episcopal priest, ecumenical pastor, substance-abuse counselor and author of several Christian evangelical programs. However, chapter 29 “Wayne” was not featured as a veiled form of evangelism, but as an extraordinary example of what one student experienced. For all I know, he might have become a lawyer, Buddhist monk, Sufi guru, or Native American Shaman. This, however, was his path and may or may not resonate with others.

When I began scribbling down the first stories, the thought that they might end up in book form never entered my mind. The plan was to collect some of the best stories and take them to Kinko’s and print 9 copies, one for each grandchild to read later. By a very strange synchronicity, ex-colleague Linda Wiliamson reentered my life and asked to see my scribblings. Amazingly, she tamed the beast, corrected many errors, reorganized the chapter sequence and produced something that Outskirts Press wanted to publish.

However, when the time came to submit Linda’s carefully edited manuscript, chapter 29, simply titled, Wayne, became problematic. I had major concerns about whether to include it or not. I sent final drafts of the chapter to friends who I knew were believers, non-believers and religious fence sitters. This list included the owner of a bookstore, high school English and humanities teachers and my support team. Shockingly, they were unanimous in their feeling that the chapter should be included. I think I was subconsciously hoping that they would discourage me. My battles to add a spiritual dimension to the Biodesign curriculum predicted that including the chapter would automatically cause the book to be banned from reading lists at all public high schools, colleges and universities. However, equally concerning, I worried that potential readers would falsely assume that the book was defined by chapter 29, rather than chapter 29 merely being one of 31 chapters.

I thought I made it clear that I was presenting many ways that people connect Nature with spirituality in a non-preferential manner. When readers of Biodesign Out For A Walk have mentioned that they thought the book was written from a Christian perspective, I didn’t k now if they were being critical or complimentary. I pointed out that quotes and references were used from Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Atheism, Secular Humanism, Agnosticism, Pantheism, Shamanism, Sufism and Native American Spirituality. All of these ideas were presented as a spiritual smorgasbord with no intention to influence or recruit students for any particular doctrine or “ism.”

In a discussion with Rabbi David Wolpe, Stephen Jay Gould, Harvard professor and world-renowned anthropologist, ironically borrowed the acronym NOMA from the Catholic Church. NOMA stands for “non-overlapping magesteria.” Gould stated:

“Science and religion are different enterprises and serve different purposes in our lives. Science is a limited domain about discovering facts and religion with other, and perhaps more important, questions such as why we are here and the purpose of the universe, about which science has nothing to say.”

The one area of science that might allow peeks through the wall separating it from religion could be wilderness studies. Great naturalists like Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace, Gregor Mendel, Louis Agassiz, Henry Thoreau and John Muir saw “God” in many aspects of their work.

In the end, the decision to include the chapter was facilitated by six members of my support team. My wife, my gifted editor and Abraham Maslow, who properly stated that identifying and discussing origins of human spirituality is not tantamount to teaching religion. After walking with John Muir and Loren Eiseley for over 50 years, I can safely say that they would embrace and applaud Wayne’s story.

And finally, Wayne was the most important factor as to whether to include his story or not. He understood well that it might encourage and inspire some readers; he also knew that it could generate anger, ridicule and rejection.

It is remarkable that Wayne heeded Loren Eiseley’s message about the importance of serving others and that he followed John Muir’s model of not worshiping the “Almighty Dollar” and worshiping the “God of all creation.” Wayne’s path was his path and I had nothing more to do with it any more than if he had chosen to be a doctor, lawyer or Indian chief. 😉

In the end, I thought that sharing his story was more important than any possible book sales that I might lose. It was simply the right thing to do. Surprisingly, of all the hundreds of e-mails, Fb comments, messages, letters and notes I have received, not one has been critical or mean-spirited about Wayne’s story.

Lowell H. Young, Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

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