Blog Archives - Wilderness Mysticism

Wilderness Mysticism

Words are the Murmuring of Silence

10/27/2015

Inspired words are the blissful murmuring of Silence.

Photo: Wild Geranium leaf, Gem Lake and cliffs, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 26, 2015

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I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.

Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

How Should Men Deal with the Fact That They are "the Invisible Sex"?

10/26/2015

Yesterday a friend intensely involved in advertising informed me emphatically that both men and women prefer ads featuring photos or videos of WOMEN rather than men. I've heard this perspective from other quarters as well, and my experience on Instagram confirms it. The number of "Likes" garnered by female "selfies" generally far outweighs those gained by the guys. I jokingly told my wife last night that I guess we guys will all need to become transgender if we want to get any attention. "But then the species wouldn't be able to continue!" she replied. Ha! - well, I guess it's good to know that we men are good for SOMETHING :) Actually, she's been telling me for years that even women prefer to look at women.

We guys are told that we aren't supposed to want affirmation for our looks, but I believe this is a part of EVERYONE'S humanity, no matter whether they are male or female. Nancy Friday, in her book "The Power of Beauty," asks honestly: "What is it like to be the invisible sex? It can't be healthy and obviously contributes to the hunger in men's eyes when they stare at us. Men look from woman to woman, never satisfied, always seeking young, lovelier women when actually they feel bereft of beauty within. Money is prodigious power, but it will not warm you. 'Feed me! Feed me!' men's eyes bulge on the street, hungry that no one has seen them."
For myself, I find that when I spend time out in the vast beauty of Nature, that loveliness then begins to transfer itself to me, causing me to feel more attractive in the process. And that, I find, is a very fulfilling thing.

Photos: (Top) Lilypad and a skin of lake ice with snow all around, Nymph Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 23, 2015; (Middle) Aspen trees and the Ruby Range, near Kebler Pass, CO, September 26, 2015; (Bottom) Aspen leaf and fresh snow at Bear Lake with Hallett Peak in the background, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 23, 2015

I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.

Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

Through Our Compliments, We Awaken One Another's Radiance

10/25/2015

A sincere compliment is the light that awakens the radiance of another's soul.

Photo: Aspen trees and Beckwith Peak, near Kebler Pass, CO, September 26, 2015

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I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.

Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

The Change of Seasons Illustrates the Principle of Beauty as the Harmony of Contrasts

10/25/2015

The change of seasons embodies perfectly the principle of beauty as the harmony of contrasts. We are meant to dwell in the middle between form and emptiness, silence and words, images and the Imageless, God and Goddess, transcendence and immanence, Nature and society, non-traditional and traditional religion, Native American and Christian, Jewish and Muslim, Buddhist and evangelical, conservative and liberal - and thus to uncover the best of each pole, melting the two into One within our own being through the HEAT of our love. What better calling could we possibly have as human beings?

Photo: Aspen leaf in fresh snow on Nymph Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 23, 2015

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I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.
Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

The Divine is Present Even Within the Seeming Attitude of Disinterest Others Have Toward Us

10/24/2015

The other day as I was making my way down the canyon, I found myself contemplating the fact that there so often seems to be a disconnect between a rich and deep awareness of the Divine while I am out in Nature on the one hand, and my experience of the often difficult and fickle aspects of human beings within society on the other. Of course, I have to include myself in that latter category, since others at times most likely see ME in that way :) Then - suddenly - an obvious realization HIT me in a fresh way:

"The Divine Presence IS IN ALL THINGS."

Obviously, the Divine is present in my experience of spaciousness and profound silence while I am hiking and meditating outside. But the Divine is also present in those situations where others seem bored and uninterested in me or my work. In this case, God-and-Goddess use the disinterest of others to flirt with me, as when a beloved says playfully to us while we are all dressed up: "You aren't very attractive, ARE you!" - which obviously means the exact opposite. The supposed negative statement serves simply as an opportunity for us to smile and realize that our beloved does indeed find us attractive.

At times, the realization that "God is in all things" can seem quite distant, and we have to work to PRACTICE what we know is true. But yesterday, this ever-present reality struck me in a new way. May each of us find the grace to see - in fresh and ever-new ways - how the Divine really IS in all things :)

Photos: Red Mountain Open Space, Larimer County, CO, October 19, 2015

I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session.

You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page. Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

Treating the Mind as an Inner Temple

10/23/2015

One of the most important ingredients of a spiritual practice is the discipline of setting boundaries regarding what we do and do not allow into our minds. Since smartphones enable us to be constantly connected to the internet, we are ceaselessly bombarded by a barrage of images, news stories and entertainment items that draw our attention in a million different directions. Cultural ADD is rampant, and we are becoming ever more passive in the process. I'm convinced that much of our modern depression is a symptom of a sense of personal LOSS OF AGENCY in the corporate-industrial society in which we live. In this condition, we come dangerously close to morphing into completely passive robots powered through remote control by a crazy society bent on exterminating every last bit of free thinking and creativity from our lives. To counteract this, we must schedule into our days blocks of time when we (1) put the phone on airplane mode, (2) practice some form of silent meditation, (3) spend quality time outdoors, (4) journal, and (5) reflect on the ultimate meaning of our lives. In addition, it is important to spend one morning or afternoon each week on retreat - generally on a weekend - and one time each month when we set aside an entire day for such pursuits. These boundaries serve to nurture a sense of agency and an intensifying of the spiritual awareness that is thereby able to well up from within and transform our lives.

In the spirit of this kind boundary setting, I leave you with these words from Henry David Thoreau, written in 1863 in an essay entitled "Life Without Principle":

"Not without a slight shudder at the danger, I often perceive how near I come to admitting into my mind the details of some trivial affair, - the news of the street; and I am astonished to observe how willing people are to lumber their minds with such rubbish, - to permit idle rumors and incidents of the most insignificant kind to intrude on ground which should be sacred to thought. Shall the mind be a public arena, where the affairs of the street and the gossip of the tea-table chiefly are discussed? Or shall it be a quarter of heaven itself, - a temple open to the sky, consecrated to the service of the gods? I find it so difficult to process the few facts which to me are significant, that I hesitate to burden my attention with those which are insignificant . . . Such is, for the most part, the news in newspapers and conversation. It is important to preserve the mind's chastity in this respect. Think of admitting the details of a single case of the criminal court into our thoughts, to stalk profanely through their holy-of-holies for an hour, aye, for many hours! To make a very bar-room of the mind's inmost apartment, as if for so long the dust of the street had occupied us, - the very street itself, with all its travel, its bustle, and filth, had passed through our thoughts' shrine! Would it not be an intellectual and moral suicide? . . . We should exclude such trespassers from the only holy ground which can be sacred to us. It is so hard to forget what it is worse than useless to remember! If I am to be a thoroughfare, I prefer that it be of the mountain-brooks, the Parnassian streams, and not the town-sewers . . . If we have thus desecrated ourselves, - and who has not? - the remedy will be wariness and devotion to reconsecrate ourselves, and make once more a temple of the mind. We should treat our minds, that is, ourselves, as innocent and naive children, whose guardians we are, and be careful what objects and what subjects we thrust on their attention. Read not the Times. Read the Eternities . . . Knowledge does not come to us by details, but in flashes of light from heaven. Yes, every thought that passes through the mind helps to wear and tear it, and to deepen the ruts . . ."

Henry David Thoreau
"Life Without Principle"
1863

OK; NOW I am headed up to the mountains for the day . . .

Photos: Aspens near Kebler Pass, CO, September 26, 2015

I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.

Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

Just as We Long for Water, So Water Longs for Us!

10/22/2015

"The thirsty one laments, 'Oh sweet water!' The water also laments, 'Where is the drinker?' This thirst in our souls is the attraction of the Water - we belong to It and It belongs to us. One cannot conceive of the sound of one hand clapping, nor can one dance on one foot. 'He loves them' is never separate from 'they love Him.' When you deem a person a lover, know that he is also a beloved. Although the thirsty seek water from the world, yet water in the world is also seeking the thirsty. Marvellous! The Beloved is with you in the midst of your seeking!"

Jelaluddin Rumi

Photos: (Top) Lost Lake, Aspens, and the Ruby Range, near Crested Butte, CO, September 25, 2015; ( Middle and Bottom) Cascades on Cow Creek, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 5, 2015

I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.

Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

Spiritual Discipline Overcomes Our Society-Induced Passivity and Gives Us a Sense of Agency

10/22/2015

Modern society attempts continually to make us passive and inert in a thousand different ways. Corporations control our healthcare, inform us what treatments they will and will not pay for, decide which books will become bestsellers, badger us to purchase the latest technological devices in order to "keep up with the times," and beam their hyped-up advertising campaigns at us repeatedly. Then the entertainment industry creates movies and shows that try to do all of our imagining FOR us. News media corporations scare us from trusting one another by consistently presenting only the bad news, while cell phone manufacturers and social media sites program us to obsessively and constantly check for the latest messages and "Likes." This in turn prevents us from experiencing the capacity for meaningful down time, with its attendant stillness, introspection and reflection that are necessary conditions to help spur us on toward greater spiritual perception and creativity.

By contrast, spiritual discipline teaches us to say "no" to a lot of these corporate shenanigans, offering a kind of "fast" from societal hyperstimulation as a means of fostering the stillness that brings unitive insight. Silence, solitude, reading, reflecting, journaling and meditation help us set the boundaries that will enable our native core radiance to blaze up and spring into action. Like the confining banks of a river, sacred disciplines and practices help intensify the flow and strength of spiritual awareness, spurring us onward toward greater growth and insight. Every spiritual master I've ever known closely guarded his or her own space, and maintained firm boundaries that served to help protect their spiritual energies and intensify a sense of agency. Only with such agency can we then form - and become - the strong container that will be supremely capable of receiving and overflowing with spiritual insights and epiphanies!

Photos: (Top) Trail Ridge Road, Aspens and the Mummy Range, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 16, 2015; (Bottom) Aspen leaves and Cow Creek cascades, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 10, 2015

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I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.

Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

One Wild and Precious Life

10/22/2015

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Mary Oliver

Photo: Young Ponderosa Pine, golden Cottonwoods, and peaks, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 16, 2015

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I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.

Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6

Desire and Passion are NOT to Be Eliminated on the Spiritual Journey

10/22/2015

In a Wilderness Mysticism, desire, passion and longing are not necessarily associated with the acquisitive ego. At root, they are not a problem and are definitely not to be eliminated by any sort of spiritual teaching or practice. Rather, desire, passion and longing become transformed into their own fulfillment when we realize that they are ALWAYS mutual. It turns out that our desire is itself a participation in the Beloved's desire for us! Evidence for this insight comes from the fact that whenever we desire something, we can feel our awareness - which is the core of who we really are - GRIPPED and GRASPED by that desire. In other words, desire does not belong primarily to us, but actually has its source in a BELOVED who desires us just as strongly as we desire Him and Her! When we realize this great insight, we learn to relax into our desires, understanding that the Beloved actually considers us HOT STUFF!

Photos: Red Mountain Open Space, Larimer County, CO, October 19, 2015

I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at [email protected] if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.

Many of my photos are available as prints, either mounted or unmounted. Here is a link to the pricing and various mounts available:

http://www.stephenhatchphotography.com/#!mounting-prices/cpr6