John Muir vision

John Muir: Mystic Of The Sierra Nevada

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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.

Whether Muir was aware of 13-th century German philosopher/theologian Meister Eckhart or not, they had much in common. Like Muir, Eckhart was criticized for his visionary thinking. His teachings had a huge impact on contemporary theologian Matthew Fox, who envisioned the modern movement known as “Creation Spirituality,” a concept that formed the basis of Muir’s “theology.”

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.”

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.”

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, 1962.

About the same time Muir was exploring the Sierra Nevada (with 2 trips to Alaska) fellow mystic/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.”

And in a “Neo-science” era, when scientists were swapping God for Darwin, anthropologist Loren Eiseley challenged the movement by claiming the Mystery still exists. He correctly pointed out that scientists dismissed the “Creation Story” as an unprovable myth, only to replace it with the “Big Bang Theory” which is equally unprovable. Not only that, in order to accept the Big Bang Theory they have to reject the long-standing law of conservation of matter/energy. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. If matter cannot be created, the Big Bang Theory is a myth. If it can be created, it must have been created out of nothing, which is scientifically impossible. This is classic circular logic and intellectually flawed.

There is a legendary story that on his deathbed, Albert Einstein smiled and mused, “But I still wonder how nothing can become something.”

Eiseley ends his masterpiece book, “The Immense Journey” with a profound 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.’”

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

John Muir—Shakespeare—Mysteries of the Sierra Nevada Mountains

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Photo credit: creationsdawn-WordPress.com

“No amount of word-making will ever make a single soul to know these mountains. As well seek to warm the naked and frost-bitten by lectures on caloric and pictures of flame. One day’s exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books.” JM

In three simple, expository lines Muir opened a window to his soul. He revealed that he was closest to God when he was in the mountains, and predating Zora Hurston,
(Their Eyes Were Watching God) indicated that you have to go there to know there.

It is likely that two of the many reasons that John Muir has attracted so many millions of Nature lovers are his ultra-exuberance for life and his holistic vision. Adding Shakespeare’s adage:

“This above all: to thine own self be true,

and it must follow, as the night the day,

thou canst not then be false to any man,”

Muir was honor-bound to reveal his frustration that the confining limits of even the finest version of the Homo sapiens’ vernacular precluded him from adequately describing the marvels, miracles and mysteries of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He made it very clear that all of his five senses were taxed vastly beyond the descriptive power of any words.

Hearing:

Following a large earthquake in Yosemite Valley he wrote: “It seemed to me that if all of the thunder I ever heard were condensed into one roar it would not equal this rock roar at the birth of a mountain talus. Think, then of the roar that arose to heaven when all of the thousands of ancient canyon taluses throughout the length and breadth of the range were simultaneously given birth.”

Smell:

I don’t recall this description, but he was surely aware of the nearly overwhelmingly sweet smell of the Jeffrey Pine forests on a hot autumn afternoon. Or the delight of inviting fellow walkers to poke their noses into a Jeffrey or Ponderosa Pine and hear them respond: “It smells like butterscotch!” or “It smells like vanilla!”

Taste:

One of his great pleasures was to dip his head into an icy-cold alpine stream and taste water that he described as more glorious than champagne. Gourmet food had no appeal to him and he embraced the precept; “Man does not live by bread alone.”

Touch:

Muir’s world was an ongoing, enhanced tactile event. He felt wonder where others felt rocks. While camping in Yosemite, he felt rapture by walking in “creation’s dawn”…where, “the morning stars still sing together and the world, not yet half made, becomes more beautiful every day.” But one of his great joys was to make a bed of freshly cut boughs of cedar, fir, hemlock or spruce, snuggle down under a single wool blanket and fall into a deep sleep with the feeling of; the peace of the mountains that transcends all human comprehension.

Sight:

After Muir was nearly blinded in one eye due to an industrial accident he was directed to stay in a darkened room for one month. After the one-month-confinement he went for a walk in an Indiana woods and described beauty so intense that it created a deep visceral pain. The pain mysteriously subsided when he closed his eyes. The walk turned out to be perhaps the greatest epiphany of his life and he reckoned he would begin a 1,000-mile-walk and “say goodbye to mechanical inventions and study the inventions of God.” That singular event probably prepared him to see visions, marvels and wonders that others were not aware of. While in Yosemite, he often slept under a canopy of billions and billions of intensely brilliant stars. Each day he tried to single out one of the 8 million humanly visible colors that reflected, refracted and illuminated his beloved “Range Of Light.” While living (and preparing his journals for publication) in San Francisco, Muir was exposed daily to the social malaise of people living in the “lowlands.” He was keenly aware that his spiritual experiences could not be translated into words, which compelled him to dedicate his life to offering his thoughts as a form of literary enticement to encourage his readers to: “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

(Photo credit: creationsdawn-WordPress.com)

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

John Muir—Loren Eiseley—Annie Dillard Playfulness—Bio-spirituality

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One of the primary reasons that John Muir, Loren Eiseley and Annie Dillard were celebrated as major mentors in the Biodesign Class was their respective genius in describing playfulness as a quintessential component in the biology of Planet Earth.

Dillard described dolphins frolicking in the water around the Galapagos Islands. I suspect that she would ascribe the same term to the 1000s of dolphins that demonstrate their propensity of playing by body-surfing on the bow-waves of ocean-going ships.

In an early morning, chance-born event, Loren Eiseley put an old chicken bone in his teeth and tumbled in the grass with a fox cub. He later described the experience as: “The gravest, most meaningful act I shall ever accomplish, but as Thoreau once remarked of some peculiar errand of his own, there is no use reporting it to the Royal Society.”

Muir’s splendid description of an event that he and his wonder-dog
“Stickeen” shared on an Alaska glacier, revealed the dog’s huge capacity for play. The account is widely considered one of the greatest man/dog adventures ever told. I read the story annually and every time I expect “Stickeen” to leap off of the page, onto my lap and begin licking my face.

Thoreau’s mention of the Royal Society refers to the inability of hard-wired (left-brain-dominant) scientists to identify or explain the reason for playfulness. There is simply no scientific model that will work; no pragmatic or utilitarian facts exist. Darwin’s theory is useless. Millions of plants and animals have survived for billions of years without playfulness, so what value is it? Or perhaps more importantly, where did playfulness come from?

If scientists have utterly failed in this regard, many theologians and religious leaders haven’t fared much (if any) better. In fact, many may have made matters worse.

Buddha described the human condition as “inherently miserable.” For over 2000 years of Christianity, there have been overt and subtle ways of observing the pathetic aphorism, “smite thyself thy wretched worm.” John Muir’s father epitomized this twisted logic by daily whippings of his son to beat him into memorizing the Holy Bible. It is no small miracle that Yosemite and the mountains healed Muir’s emotional wounds. “The galling harness of civilization drops off, and the wounds heal ere we are aware,” JM. It is an even greater miracle/irony that Muir emerged with such a playful soul.

I am certainly not a Bible scholar, but in nearly 900 pages of the Old Testament there is a paucity of references to playfulness.

Zechariah 8:5. “The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

Jeremiah 30:19. “And thanksgiving and [the] sound of merrymakers will come out from them, and I will make them numerous, and they will not be few.”

Jeremiah 30: 4. “I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful” (playful).

Psalms 104: 25-26. “There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.”

I am somewhat more familiar with the New Testament, however, Google does not show any teachings of Jesus or St. Paul that could be considered playful. The only example might involve Christ’s first miracle at Cana. Did he turn water into wine because he was concerned about the wedding guests losing some of their jocularity (playfulness)? Or is this what he meant when he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”?

And then C.S. Lewis appeared. In his wonderful series; The Chronicles of Narnia, written for children from 5 to 95; he wrote in: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe:

“’Oh, children, said the Lion, ‘I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!” He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail. Then he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table. Laughing, though she didn’t know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him. Aslan leaped again. A mad chase began.”

Although Lewis does not invoke the word playfulness, he brilliantly infers that it is an essential part of the Creation Story.

He seems to suggest that if God truly made man in His image, playfulness must be a part of the equation. And just maybe, that is the crux of our dilemma? Many African cultures seem to understand this concept by exclaiming (when they experience extraordinarily tragic or joyful events); “God is playing with us!”

However, I doubt that less than one in a million people (regardless of race, religion or creed) would include playfulness in God’s job description. If so, citing C.S. Lewis, it would be a very sad commentary on the human experience.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

St. John of the Mountains

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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

John Muir and a Sea of Wildflowers

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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

Yin-Yang—Divine Green Slime—Biodesign

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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

From John Muir To Social Injustice

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In 1976, naturalist T. H. Watkins published, John Muir’s America. He must have felt that he knew Muir’s soul so well that he composed three imaginary conversations with the venerable old mountain man. The first dialogue began on the veranda of Muir’s home in Martinez, Ca. The two men discussed many ecological topics as they wandered up to Muir’s “scribble den.” After discussing some of his inventions, Muir rocked back in his chair and closed his eyes until Watkins innocently wandered into the controversial role that Thomas Huxley played in popularizing Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

“The old man exploded out of his silence, thrusted forward in his chair and slapped the flat of his palm on the desk top.”

‘Huxley—that bloodless coof! That fool! He and his kind took the work of Darwin and twisted it to fit their vision of the world. And damme, what a cold and heartless world they would have had it be. They called it survival of the fittest, but no matter what they might have called it, was a damnable theory, a dark and chilly reasoning that chance and competition accounted for all things. Oh it was a useful theory—that I canna deny. It justified all manner of cruelty just as my father’s piety excused all manner of cruelty to his children. Should a man be inspired to destroy his best friend in the marketplace, why, he could shrug it off as the natural consequence of living in the great soulless machine of the cosmos. But it was a damnable theory because it ignored the one real truth of the world, the truth that lives in every rock, flower, leaf, tree and animal—including man: it was all created by a loving God, and His love covers all the earth as the sky covers it, and fills it in every pore.’

Forty years later, Watkins’ words have become a fulfilled prophecy. On July 1, 2015, an undocumented immigrant discharged an illegally obtained handgun that resulted in the death of a young woman who was out for a walk in San Francisco. The trial was recently concluded with the jury rendering a verdict of not guilty.

Contrary to all the blather from media pundits, politicians and lawyers, the jury’s acquittal of the alleged criminal had less to do with ethnicity, immigration status or birth-origin, and more to do with socio-cultural, regressive de-evolution in an increasingly soulless society.

The positive proof of this emerged from the fact that in spite of the perpetrator admitting (KGO TV interview) that he pulled the trigger of the lethal weapon, the jury agreed with a scenario that the defense team presented as they “twisted it to fit their vision of the world.”

Tragically, events like these are going to become more common. In the name of “political correctness,” our public el-hi schools, colleges and universities are systematically sanitizing curricula, removing all references to spirituality. This will doubtlessly produce generations of morally bankrupt adults who are proponents of the Godless religion known as “situational ethics.”

Some of the fruits from this evil tree were recently borne for all to see in the San Francisco courthouse.

Of all the countless millions of words generated by this tragedy, two lines stand out. The day after the verdict was announced, the headline of a SF Chronicle editorial:

“Justice was not served.”

And one of the jurors anonymously commented; “I need to spend some time collecting my thoughts.”

Indeed, don’t we all?

In his classic book, Religions, Values and Peak Experiences, psychologist Abraham Maslow expressed concern for an increasingly spiritless US society. He suggested that the subject of “human spirituality” could be added to a suitably enlarged biology curriculum without breaching the wall that separates Church and State.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

“One Day’s Exposure To Mountains Is Better Than A Cartload Of Books.” John Muir

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Excerpt: Biodesign Out For A Walk.

“He’s freakin’ nuts if he thinks I am going to sleep up there!” Although I think the student who muttered these words was half kidding, I was in good company. 130 years ago, John Muir was often regarded as a tramp, bum, social misfit and perhaps most demeaning, “a ne’er-do-well:” an idle, worthless person; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit, good-for-nothing.

During the formative years of the Biodesign program, I had some parents, colleagues and administrators who leaned in that direction. They were skeptical about taking students away from the educationally sacred ground of the St. Helena High School campus.

However, I was blessed to have had a university grad-school biology professor who took me to Yosemite. He kindled a dream that if there were ever a way to take my biology students to Yosemite, I would do it. The dream not only came true, but also exceeded my wildest expectations. Eventually, our annual Yosemite trip grew to 6 days, we added a 6-day trip to the Grand Canyon and a 5-day trip to the Mendocino Coast; totaling a whopping 17 days away from school.

As we immersed ourselves in the mountains, and Muir’s writing, we discovered that what he was preaching about was absolutely true.

“One day’s exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books.”

Muir nearly died, perhaps a dozen times, as he tried to get as close as he could to the heart of Nature. Although we did not intentionally plan to follow him that closely, sleeping on top of Half Dome always provided some thrilling adventures. Like many of Muir’s treks, this was not commonly done or, apart from very few avid rock climbers, even considered possible. Considering the world population, the odds for sleeping on top were about 1:14,000,000, which are higher odds than being struck by lightning.

Amazingly, I got to sleep up there with 19 classes. I led smaller groups up there 6 more times for a total of 25 trips to the top. Each time I arrived I communed with John Muir’s spirit and fully appreciated what he meant when he said, “finally, I was back in church again.”

It is little wonder that I feel supremely blessed. Also, it does not surprise me if some of the readers of Biodesign Out For A Walk think I am “freakin’ nuts.” ;o)

Yosemite NP banned camping on top of Half Dome about 20 years ago and so many of those students and chaperones, who got to sleep on top, hold precious memories of events that are no longer possible.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Dewitt Jones: “The Banquet Is Laid Though Nobody Comes.”

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Although, as a little boy, I attended Sunday school at the little white church in Oakville, Ca., my spiritual search was low-key at best until I was 31 and Lettie asked her fateful question:

“Is memorizing all the parts of a fetal pig really important?”

(Biodesign Out For A Walk, chap. 1. “Genesis: Lettie’s Question.”)

She launched me on a journey that I have been on for over 45 years. This journey has taken me to thousands of wondrous physical, mental and spiritual places and exposed me to some of the greatest naturalists the world has known. One of those people was John Muir, who not only led me to Yosemite, but, coincidentally to the dawning of my spiritual awareness.

However, as a traditional biology teacher, I was intrigued, even a bit conflicted to learn that he kept a copy of The New Testament (plus the Psalms) with him on all of his meanderings. Although I never became a Biblical scholar, there were some puzzling passages that I reencountered over the years. Retrospectively, however, this should not have been surprising. During his trial for suspected heresy, the great scientist Galileo informed his accusers that the Bible contained many metaphors and parables that were often difficult for people to comprehend.

For me, one of those passages was:

The banquet is laid though nobody comes.

Somehow, the seven words were seven fragments that held little meaning.

Evidently, not unlike Dianna (Biodesign Out For A Walk chap. 28, Amazing Faith) I lacked the spiritual awareness of what the phrase meant.

And then recently an amazing synchronicity occurred. A Fb friend was struggling with the woes of modern society and I wanted to cheer her up. She is a Nature lover and so I Googled: Photos: Celebrating the joys of Nature.

The attached YouTube video, by Dewitt Jones, popped up and not only explained the cryptic Bible passage to my often-balky left-brain, but presented another wonderful mystery.

I thought his name was familiar, but I could not recall why. Finally, it dawned on me that I had met him on Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Meadow, 39 years ago. Well, his body wasn’t there, but his spirit was in a book, John Muir’s America, which he coauthored with T.H. Watkins. Watkins did a superb job with the text and Jones added spectacular photos. The book became one of the cornerstones of the Biodesign Class.

However, the intriguing part is that I may not have ever discovered it were it not for the loving members of Biodesign ’79. They purchased the book and presented it to me on the meadow as a birthday/thank you gift. And now, 39 years later, through a miracle of “I-T,” Jones reentered my life and completed the magnificent circle that he helped initiate.

I used to suggest to students that Biodesign was like a wonderful smorgasbord of concepts and ideas. I also assured them that, although some of the ideas may involve human spirituality, I was a biology teacher and not a guru; ergo they were free to agree with or disagree with all physical, mental or spiritual topics. I did caution them that some of the ideas (even John Muir’s) could be challenging, even provocative.

Then along came Dewitt Jones, citing the Bible, suggesting that, for all those many years, we were actually at a spiritual BANQUET and not merely a smorgasbord. The suddenly illuminated passage became perfectly clear.

The countless visual images and emotion-filled moments offered at Yosemite, Grand Canyon and the Mendocino Coast, provided a spiritual banquet which offered food for our souls, far more nourishing than the finest caviar, escargot and champagne. With food like this, it is little wonder that Muir was content to throw a couple pounds of dried bread balls (and some tea bags) into a pillowcase, grab a single wool blanket and vanish into his beloved mountain-wilderness for a month.

I have remained in contact with a few members of Bio ’79. One of them is Lori Evensen, who could not have known that she would be partially responsible for this blog. 39 years ago, all of the students signed the Jones/Watkins book and she signed it:

“Mr. Young,

I hope your birthday will be as beautiful as Yosemite. (Be sure to read pg. 57, a great description of life). Thank you for being you.

Love, Lori.”

John Muir’s America: Page 57:

“No pain here, no dull empty hours, no fear of the past, no fear of the future. Drinking this champagne water is pure pleasure, so is breathing the living air…”

A virtual banquet indeed!

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Half Dome: Half Way To Heaven?

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“What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above.” – Renee Daumal

EVERY HUMAN BEING should be fortunate enough to sleep at least one night on top of a mountain, under a starry blanket. John Muir exhorted his followers, “go to the mountains and get their good tidings.” He minced no words describing the potential power of mountaintop experiences to be transcendental, perhaps connecting hikers with heaven. Loren Eiseley noted that, although adventures like these may or may not connect hikers to God, they often result in hikers having a vision or seeing a marvel. Although results cannot be predicted, the limitless possibilities range from subtle to profound to sublime.

There are 1000s of mountaintops, tors, buttes and mesas in the US where a high school biology class could camp out for a night. However, few (if any) can compare with Yosemite’s iconic Half Dome. Twenty-four Biodesign Classes eagerly accepted John Muir’s challenge to climb Half Dome, perhaps in search of a “born again” experience.

In the 1970s, our idea of challenging students to stretch their physical, mental and spiritual wings closely paralleled the goals of the highly successful wilderness program called, “Outward Bound.”

Although each new class had seen countless images and heard numerous stories about the world-famous Half Dome, nothing could prepare them for the view they saw when they arrived at Glacier Point. The view was so extraordinary that it often rendered students speechless. On one trip, while looking up at Half Dome, a male student exclaimed to a classmate, “He’s freakin’ nuts if he thinks I am going to sleep up there!”

Although 20 Biodesign classes made it to the top of Half Dome, only 16 were fortunate enough to sleep overnight (before the practice was banned by YNPS).

I have to admit that, before each of those 16 trips, I questioned my own mental stability.

Those fortunate enough to succeed were offered an extraordinary spectacle that most will never see again. Typically, the Big Dipper loomed above to the north with Merak and Dubhe lined up pointing to Polaris (the north star). Those having trouble sleeping could watch the handle of the giant dipper slowly tick off the changing hours of the night.

Of course, each trip was unique and depended on countless variables. However, when the stars aligned favorably we were able to sit in a circle, read some passages from Muir and share what we were seeing, thinking and feeling. During these events, my role as leader shifted to the role as observer. I often marveled at the innate wisdom that the students exhibited.

On one particular occasion, the level of communication and spiritual camaraderie rose to such a height that it felt surreal. We were snuggled in a tightly bonded circle. The autumn air was chilly and the stars were so brilliant they appeared to be close enough for us to reach out and pick a basket of them.

And then suddenly “it” happened. As students shared their deepest reflections, without warning, they were presented with the dilemma of wondering whether the whole class mysteriously levitated upward toward heaven or if heaven mysteriously descended down to engulf them. The Eastern Orthodox Church uses the term, “mandorla,” (almond shaped design) to depict sacred moments which transcend time and space, including the overlap between heaven and Earth. I am not a religious scholar, but this experience seemed to match the Greek concept.

The next morning during breakfast, it was clear to me that the students had changed. The countenance of many of the girls was subtly radiant, not unlike da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The mood of the guys was unusually quiet, more contemplative; some looked a little spooked. I didn’t comment, but imagined some of their private conversations included questions like: “What the heck happened during our circle last night?”

They were in good company. Muir cautioned us that there were no Earthly words that could adequately describe spiritual events.

The students were not the only ones with a beguiling mystery. I too pondered over the event. It was only after returning home that it occurred to me that, aside from my wedding day and assisting with our youngest child’s birth, my star-struck experience on Half Dome was the most intense spiritual awakening in my life.

So, Muir came down from Yosemite’s mountains with, “Thoughts and deeds that moved the world.” Each year, our students came down from Half Dome having seen wonders, marvels, even little miracles or perhaps being gifted with a glimpse into heaven.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com