If anything, I've always considered myself a naturalist. Though denigrated to the root of evil and distraction, to be shunned for what is confined to death and textbook, the natural world holds enough mystery, beauty, and trials to challenge any set of spiritual pagination. I can think of no better example of this than the ascent of a mountain.
Moses ascended a mountain to find God, the Greek pantheon inhabited Mount Olympus, Jesus and Mohammad both preached from the mountaintop, and the gods are said to deposit their treasures atop Mount Kanchenjunga. The mountain peak is a high place, its path long and treacherous; one can battle all elements, hot and cold, moving and still. The path can be deceptive; "just over that ridge" translates to "just over that ridge... and that ridge... and that ridge," and even then it's not impossible to get lost. It can take hours, even days to get from trailhead to peak.
Still, once one touches the summit and looks down upon the people, the trees, the peaks, the clouds, one cannot help but be struck by the grandeur of the world, far greater than any human squabble or plague. It is at the top of the mountain, after the onslaught of obstacles, external and internal, has battered the seeker, that the seeker catches the merest glimpse of the divine hand, uncompressed by dogma or page count. One can revel in it for hours, unfettered, unchallenged, but even then, after this moment of revelry, the seeker, must still navigate a way back down among the clouds, the peaks, the trees, the people.
Moses ascended a mountain to find God, the Greek pantheon inhabited Mount Olympus, Jesus and Mohammad both preached from the mountaintop, and the gods are said to deposit their treasures atop Mount Kanchenjunga. The mountain peak is a high place, its path long and treacherous; one can battle all elements, hot and cold, moving and still. The path can be deceptive; "just over that ridge" translates to "just over that ridge... and that ridge... and that ridge," and even then it's not impossible to get lost. It can take hours, even days to get from trailhead to peak.
Still, once one touches the summit and looks down upon the people, the trees, the peaks, the clouds, one cannot help but be struck by the grandeur of the world, far greater than any human squabble or plague. It is at the top of the mountain, after the onslaught of obstacles, external and internal, has battered the seeker, that the seeker catches the merest glimpse of the divine hand, uncompressed by dogma or page count. One can revel in it for hours, unfettered, unchallenged, but even then, after this moment of revelry, the seeker, must still navigate a way back down among the clouds, the peaks, the trees, the people.
After climbing over 50 peaks in a little over one year,these words express the true feeling of reaching a summit. Everyone should go climb a mountain! RJ
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