Traveling Thoughts

A common experience of human beings is standing at the beach, or overlooking the Grand Canyon, and being completely overwhelmed by the vastness laid out before them. This experience has been labelled transcendent emotion by those who have studied it and attempted to classify it. Psychologists have come up with a variety of explanations as to why nature evokes intense emotional response in humans. I can’t pretend to understand these explanations. I do understand the experience though. I have stood in many place and been overcome by emotion. I have felt a sense of God’s presence, of spiritual reality, at these times. Much is written in spiritual literature about the wilderness experience. The Bible presents two particularly powerful wilderness experiences: the Hebrews in the desert after escaping Egypt and the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. Around the third century, Anthony the Great retired to the desert and began a whole movement of asceticism. Most monks and devoted religious people live in somewhat isolated locales. Most personal retreats are held in places where nature is predominant. The lesson, I suppose, is that we all ought to experience a little transcendent emotion now and then. I feel a trip to the beach coming on…

On a trip to Yosemite many years ago, I was enjoying the scenery when I noticed everyone around me looking up and pointing. Of course, I looked up to try and see what they were pointing at. All I saw was a massive rock wall towering above me (I shouldn’t say ‘all I saw’ because it was a pretty impressive sight). Everyone was insisting that there were three people climbing up that sheer cliff and they were pointing out three black specks on the rock face.

From my point of view, there was no one climbing that rock because you would have to be crazy to try and climb that rock. Someone close by me was saying that they would love to climb that rock. If offered the opportunity to climb that rock I would quickly decline. After several minutes, some of the watchers decided that no one was actually climbing the rock while others insisted that those black specks were indeed three climbers. I don’t recall if it was ever determined whether those black specks were climbers or shadows or dark rocks. I do clearly remember thinking that we were all standing around looking at the same thing and we couldn’t agree on what we were seeing. We were too far away to see clearly. If we had been able to get closer, or had a pair of high powered binoculars, we would have been able to determine the truth of the matter. We needed a better perspective of the situation. In today’s post truth culture, we would be wise to stop arguing about three specks on a rock wall and strive to get a better perspective.

I wrote previously about the importance of knowing our purpose and working strenuously towards accomplishing that purpose. I have often found myself distracted from doing the things I know I’m supposed to be doing. I also find myself a bit disheartened at the lack of progress towards my goals. I recall an Alaskan cruise some 20 years ago which put my lack of progress into perspective.

The glacier is famous for being incredibly slow moving, yet relentless. At a quick glance, we can’t really see it moving. But if you watch long enough, you will see pieces break off. Slow progress is still progress. That’s a good lesson to remember. Of course, human beings only have a limited amount of time on planet Earth, so we need to move a little faster than a glacier. Still, slow progress will eventually get us to our end goals as long as we don’t give up on them.

Back in my younger days, I was able to do more walking, hiking, and climbing. I came across these rock steps on a hike up Vernal Falls in Yosemite.

These steps immediately brought to mind the Tolkien books with Frodo and Sam ascending the steps into Mordor. What struck me was that Sam and Frodo knew they were heading into the most dangerous place in the world. Not only that, they worked incredibly hard to reach the most dangerous place in the world. They did so because they had a purpose that was all important to them. I walked these steps thinking about Sam and Frodo and asking myself how willing I was to work hard at accomplishing my purposes in life. How often do I let myself be distracted by simplicity, ease, and comfort? Too often, I think. Remembering these steps helps me remember the importance of fulfilling my purpose in life. It also reminds me that I’m getting older because I could never climb very far up those steps today.