Sunday, August 18, 2013

The Secret of the Mountain

The secret of the mountain is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself: the mountains exist simply, which I do not. The mountains have no "meaning," they are meaning; the mountains are. The sun is round. I ring with life, and the mountains ring, and when I can hear it, there is a ringing that we share. I understand all this, not in my mind but in my heart, knowing how meaningless it is to try to capture what cannot be expressed, knowing that mere words will remain when I read it all again, another day.
Peter (Muryo) Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.
Edward Abbey

Winding river, endless mountains— the dark forest breathing mist. There is no road into the sacred place. It’s just that, the deeper you go, the more wondrous it becomes.
John Daido Loori

6 comments:

Tabor said...

That photo is a universal mystery.

kerrdelune said...

Not really a mountain at all, Tabor, but the view from a county road (511) overlooking the highlands.

Steven Crisp said...

That is a wonderful photograph. Can I ask if it is "as seen" by the camera, or did the artist work her magic on the computer. Really stunning in either case.

Regarding the mountain, and "no meaning". I'm just curious if you would extend the same logic to we humans. After much contemplation, I will tell you that I do. As far as I can tell, we are just another species, helping the universe do its evolutionary thing.

That said, one can choose to make meaning out of their life, and without a doubt will have an impact (by definition). But meaning from "on high"? I don't think so.

What would the poet and photographer say?

Thanks for your daily offerings.

S-

kerrdelune said...

No magic... It was a foggy autumn morning, and I wasn't happy with the image at all when I looked at it on my screen. Some time later, I took another look and thought the tapestry of trees and mist was pure "yugen"

Yes, the same logic does apply to the human species - we are here to assist the cosmos in evolving.

Barbara Rogers said...

Hi Cate...lovely picture...

Note from talk about mugs over on my blog...I just added a photo of the one available mug, which doesn't really look exactly like the photo, because this one doesn't have the spiral on it. If the spiral is what you want, we'll have to wait till I make another one!

Guy said...

Hi Cate

A great photo and a wonderful selection of quotes.

All the best.
Guy