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God’s wildness

St. John of the Mountains

Posted on April 16, 2019 Leave a Comment

Happy 181st Birthday John Muir: April 21, 1838

After whimsically describing John Muir as, “St. John of the Mountains,” I have come to suspect the designation may have been more Jungian and less whimsy. If so, his elevation to sainthood may not be an unrealistic overreach. In many ways he lived like an ascetic monk, welcoming hardships that few people would (or could) endure. He survived extended periods in the wilderness with a single wool blanket; tin cup, some tea and a pillowcase containing dried bread-balls.

“Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.”

As a highly literate man, Muir was likely aware that his philosophy was closely related to St. Francis of Assisi and St. Ignatius of Loyola. Both men were devout Nature lovers and described all matters natural as the handiwork of God.

Denis Williams wrote in his book, God’s Wilds: John Muir’s Vision of Nature (College Station: Texas A&M Univ. Press):

“Muir saw nature as a great teacher, ‘revealing the mind of God,’ and this belief became the central theme of his later journeys and the “subtext” of his nature writing.”

Muir joined Henry Thoreau and R.W. Emerson in a brotherhood of naturalists who believed that a quintessential component of becoming fully human involved transcending the confining bonds of logic, reason and egoism in order to be spiritually born: Ergo, Mystery remains Supreme.

Perhaps it is also not a reach to deduce that if Muir had been a member of the Roman Catholic Church, he would have been canonized long ago. However, the reality is that he regarded the universe as his church and being the free spirit that he was, chose not to identify with any particular branch of religion:

“Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water tanks the people’s cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.”

Photo: Matt Stoecker
(Inlaid Photo: I.W. Taber)

As a child, he had memorized much of the Holy Bible and his writing often reflected Holy Scripture; as in the case of Psalm 8:

“When I consider Thy heavens,
the work of Thy fingers, The moon and the stars,
which Thou hast ordained;
What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him?” KJV

He also frequently sowed spiritual seeds with writings:

“From the dust of the earth, from the common elementary fund, the Creator has made Homo sapiens.”

“In God’s wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off and the wounds heal ere we are aware.”

Sometimes his words and deeds can be considered downright evangelical:

“I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature’s loveliness. Heaven knows that John the Baptist was not more eager to get all of his fellow sinners into the Jordan than I to baptize all of mine in the beauty of God’s mountains.”

Photo: artinnaturephotography.com

One of the prerequisites of achieving sainthood is an act of performing a miracle. Because Muir was such a spiritual giant, few would argue that his life, works and legacy have provided inspiration, comfort, even healing for countless millions of people, many of who have experienced Nature-induced “born-again experiences.” His lofty vision of the importance of “eco-spirituality” has spread globally. Through his inspiration and guidance countless thousands of national, state and regional parks have been established worldwide. After Muir’s famous camp-out with Teddy Roosevelt, on top of Yosemite’s Glacier Point, Roosevelt signed into existence five national parks, 18 national monuments, 55 national bird sanctuaries and wildlife refuges, and 150 national forests. Millions of acres have been set-aside for the primary purpose of encouraging people to reconnect with Mother Nature.

“Everybody needs beauty…places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike.” JM

Photo: jhmg.com

Muir wrote about “poets, philosophers and prophets” coming down from the mountains to improve humanity, but was too humble to realize that he belonged to that pantheon of sages. Countless millions of followers have joined the “Sierra Club” he founded, which has had a huge national and international impact, encouraging people to “go to the mountains” and seek a spiritual rebirth.

The final line in his marvelous story about his little wonder-dog Stickeen was:

“To me Stickeen is immortal!”

In what has become an extraordinary irony, it is truly John Muir who has become immortal in the hearts and minds of countless millions of Nature lovers around the world.

“St. John of the Mountains” has a nice ring to it.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Posted in: Reflections | Tagged: God's wildness, Happy 181st Birthday John Muir, John Muir, John Muir vision, wilderness, Yosemite Temple

John Muir and a Sea of Wildflowers

Posted on April 3, 2019 2 Comments

There are religious scholars who believe that John Muir was sent as God’s messenger to interpret and describe the wonders and miracles of the wilderness. Conversely, there are secular scientists who assert that his life is a testament of the unlimited creativity of random genetic combinations without involvement with a Supreme Being. However, what they may agree on is that his life appears to be a huge synchronicity that resulted in his “thoughts and deeds that have moved the world.” (JM) In fact, his life was filled with so many synchronicities that they are too numerous to count. Muir seems to have had a gift for being at the right place at the right time. Perhaps he was aware that Louis Pasteur opined, “Chance favors the prepared mind,” as he was passionate and dedicated with his endless plans to explore the mysteries and revelations of Nature.

“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.” JM

One of these events involved his first walk from San Francisco to Yosemite Valley. He arrived in the spring and walked south along the Coast Range and ascended Pacheco Pass. His first view of the California’s Central Valley was a view that stirred his soul.

Excerpt: “The Mountains of California.” JM

“The Great Central Plain of California, during the months of March, April and May, was one smooth, continuous bed of honey bloom, so marvelously rich that, in walking one end to the other, a distance of more than four hundred miles, your foot would press about a hundred flowers at every step…

When I first saw this central garden, the most extensive and regular of all the bee pastures of the State, it seemed all one sheet of plant gold, hazy and vanishing in the distant, distinct as a new map of the foothills at my feet…

Sauntering in any direction, hundreds of these happy sun-plants brushed against my feet at every step, and closed over them as if I were wading in liquid gold.” He wrote elsewhere, “ Only God can paint with flowers.”

Nearly every square foot of California’s Great Central Valley, from Mt. Shasta in the north and Mt. Whitney in the south, has been “repurposed” to accommodate human habitation. Fortunately, some of the lower foothills have escaped the destructive power of devotees of “progress.” Because of the atypically high rainfall this year, California is experiencing a rare explosion of wildflower life. It is a poignant reminder of what John Muir saw on his first walk from San Francisco to Yosemite Valley. Although impressive, this walk was only one of thousands of walks that contributed to the larger-than-life legendary John Muir.

Photo credit: Lake Elsinore Poppies: regensburgerphotography.com

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Posted in: Reflections | Tagged: Author Lowell Harrison Young, Biodesign Out For A Walk, God's wildness, John Muir, John Muir vision, super bloom, The Mountains of California

Annie Dillard: Pilgrim At Tinker Creek: A Cautionary Tale

Posted on June 8, 2015 Leave a Comment

Screen shot 2015-06-08 at 8.55.56 PMAnnie Dillard mused; “The question from agnosticism is; who turned on the lights?”  John Muir answered; “faith is a baptism of light.”

Annie Dillard is one of my favorite naturalist/writer. She published Pilgrim At Tinker Creek in 1974 and it became a Pulitzer Award winner. Considered by Edward Abbey as the “true heir apparent” to Henry Thoreau’s throne of nature writing and transcendentalism, she easily interrelates ecology and spirituality. I think I read PATC in 1976 and was intrigued that she made references, not only to Jesus Christ and the Bible, but also to Judaism, Buddhism, Sufism, and Inuit spirituality. I naively assumed that if she could do this, then why not me? Following her cue in a public high school, however, proved to be explosively controversial and led to the “Fire Storm” of 1978 (described in chapter 3, Biodesign Out For A Walk).

I am probably considered (by some) sexist or gender-biased when I suggest that she writes from a female perspective. One of the great mysteries of human dimorphism is that females experience, think, know and feel things that males do not and visa-versa. Many of the great joys and frustrations of being married are experienced as these differences are discovered, resolved and thus celebrated. Recent discoveries in differences between the anatomy and physiology of female and male brains indicate that they are similar, but quite different organs. In her book, Natural History of Love, Diane Ackerman describes critically important differences in male and female brains, which are essential for human survival. “The Male Brain” and “Female Brain,” by Dr. Louann Brizendine further corroborate this premise.

Dillard had an intense “one touch of nature” experience when she was a young girl attending an elementary school. As I was writing this, I thought it involved either a Cecropia or Prometheus moth. Going back to the source, however, I discovered it was actually a Polyphemus moth. The mistake was understandable because all three species include moths with 5-6 inch wingspans. It wasn’t the species that was important, but the wingspan.

Screen shot 2015-06-08 at 8.56.11 PMTypically for elementary kids, one of her classmates brought in a moth cocoon, attached to a small branch to school. The teacher put the branch into a small Mason jar and went on with the day’s lessons. After the appropriate time lapse, the adult moth began to emerge. Dillard described the event:

“The Mason jar sat on the teacher’s desk; the big moth emerged inside it. The moth had clawed a hole in its hot cocoon and crawled out, as if agonizingly, over the course of an hour, one leg at a time; we children watched around the desk, transfixed. After it emerged, the wet, mashed thing turned around walking on the green jar’s bottom, then painstakingly climbed the twig with which the jar was furnished.

There, at the twig’s top, the moth shook its sodden clumps of wings. When it spread those wings—those beautiful wings—blood would fill their veins, and the birth fluids on the wings’ frail sheets would harden to make them tough as sails. But the moth could not spread its wide wings at all; the jar was too small. The wings could not fill, so they hardened while they were still crumpled from the cocoon. A smaller moth could have spread its wings to their utmost in that Mason jar, but the Polyphemus moth was big. Its gold furred body was almost as big as a mouse. Its brown, yellow, pink, and blue wings would have extended six inches from tip to tip, if there had been no mason jar. It would have been big as a wren.”

Not knowing what to do, the teacher led the young students out to the school driveway and bounced the moth onto the pavement. The horrible image of the moth, walking on legs that were not meant for walking, carrying crumpled wings incapable of flying, was etched in Annie’s brain as vividly as acid etches an image in glass.

Screen shot 2015-06-08 at 8.56.27 PMI was profoundly moved by reading the story and had no idea that it would later become a powerful metaphor for the Biodesign Class. However, unlike the moth, the story had redemptive qualities in the class. Frequently, students, who had spirit-crippling experiences, discovered natural revelations that enabled them to “fly.” Whether on top of Yosemite’s Half Dome, somewhere in Grand Canyon or along the Mendocino Coast, it was almost automatic that students saw visions, marvels, even small miracles that liberated them from their “Mason jars.” It should not have been surprising because John Muir, Henry Thoreau, and Annie Dillard had prepared them for their transcendental flight.

“In God’s wildness lies the hope of the world – the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and wounds heal ere we are aware.”  – John of the Mountains

It is with deep sorrow that I fear that Dillard’s tragic story has become a metaphor for our public schools in the US. Secular humanism, scientism and political correctness are providing a silent, but deadly storm, sanitizing all references to spirituality in our schools. It is more than likely that students will go from kindergarten to grad school without hearing or discussing the importance of spiritual awakenings.

Tragically, paraphrasing John Denver, fewer and fewer students will have the opportunity to discover and share: “Poems and Prayers and Promises and things that they believe in.” The naturalist philosophy of Muir, Thoreau, Emerson etal, has been marginalized and regarded as irrelevant, obsolete or intellectually regressive.

Poems Prayers and Promises by John Denver

In my mind’s eye, I see millions of students, trudging home from school each day with over-sized backpacks and paralyzed spiritual wings, plodding toward a future, soulless nation.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

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Posted in: Reflections | Tagged: Annie Dillard: Pilgrim At Tinker Creek, Bio-spirituality, Biodesign Out For A Walk, God's wildness, self-discovery

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