Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.
Ikkyu – Zen-monk poet, 1394-1481
Isn’t amazing how BIG our universe is? Isn’t amazing how BIG God is? As I get older, I realize He is so much bigger than my previous narrow understanding of Him. I remember hearing Father Barron, say, “If you think you know everything about God, then that’s not God.” It’s difficult to even try to use words to explain a God that is so infinite, so present, so EVERYWHERE…He is amazing and I stand in awe. Our words are inadequate.
I was thinking of this when I was talking to my friend who climbed Mt. Rainier. He showed me pictures and they are stunning. They are unbelievable really. I kept wondering, if I was up there, would I be paying enough attention? Would I be able to remember?
Since mountain climbing is not my thing, I asked him why he is drawn to it. What makes him want to climb? He said that when he got to the top and he saw the sun rising through the clouds, it was a “spiritual experience”.
When I saw the pictures, I can see that it must have been awe inspiring.
What this makes me realize is that we are all seeking in different ways. We are all “climbing” in a sense. I love that God is so infinite and so present that we can find Him anywhere.
This same friend doesn’t believe in God. He has concerns about organized religion and has decided it’s not for him. Yet, when he was up there in the clouds, he felt something.
Now, he didn’t see God with a white beard and a white robe. He didn’t see legions of angels and saints. Mary wasn’t there welcoming him encouraging him to say the rosary. He didn’t decide to start going to church every week.
But he felt something. I tried to put it in my language and said, “Oh that’s great, you recognized there is something bigger than yourself.” And he said, “No”. (As in, don’t put it in your words Sue.)
And I don’t have to. He can keep it in his words. He said, “It was a spiritual experience”. And that’s enough.
When before the beauty of a sunset or a mountain, you pause and exclaim, “Ah,” you are participating in divinity.
-Joseph Campbell
I can’t believe the post about my experience followed “The Bathroom Speech”. That’s a tough act to follow.
Allow me explain my point of view on climbing, life and religion. I’m an atheist. But I do believe in spirituality. To me, spirituality has nothing to do with religion or God. My definition of spirituality is the thing that makes you feel whole. The thing that makes you warm inside. The thing makes you feel like you are part of a bigger thing or purpose. The thing that makes you feel like everything is going to be ok. The thing that makes you feel insignificant yet huge at the same. For a lot of people, this thing is religion. Religion makes them feel whole.
For me, it’s nature. Being on a mountain and looking down, sticking my head in an ice cold raging stream, laying on a giant rock that’s warm from the sun, wrapping my arms around a 100 year old tree, seeing bazillions of stars at night, looking out over an ocean or an endless prairie and hearing the sound of silence. All these things make me feel whole. They make me warm inside.
Spirituality is something that everybody needs in their life. Life sucks without it. I don’t believe in God, but if someone chooses God because it gives them spirituality, then I respect that. Some people spend their whole life searching for the one thing that makes them feel good and never find it. You’ve found yours in religion. I’ve found mine on a mountain. They are simliar, yet so different.
oh my gosh…this is so good and i’m worried it’s going to get buried in the scrolling -ness of the blog! LOVE IT!! I must draw attention to it! Thank you Mike!!! Great Big YES to you my friend! 🙂