And The Meadow Said...

Being the best for the world

By Dewitt Jones

Every four years, our country descends into the craziness of a presidential campaign. Perhaps I’m just getting old and cynical, but it seems that each time another one rolls around, we as a people disintegrate further into the politics of polarization and anger.

Enough! I’m heading to the mountains! There’s nothing like the clarity of a high Sierra meadow to put the world back in perspective....

I put my cameras down for a moment and just look. The crystalline air brings a sharpness to each ridge and pine needle that literally makes my eyes ache. The sweet purity of the air overwhelms my olfactories. I revel in the contrast between the strength and massiveness of the rock and the delicate sweetness of the meadow wildflowers. It’s astoundingly lovely. I find myself murmuring an ancient Navajo poem:

“Beauty is before me, beauty is behind me, beauty is below me, beauty is above me. I walk in beauty.”

What is this resonance that makes me feel/see something as beautiful? I don’t know, but I can’t turn my head here in this meadow without feeling it.

I sit some more, hardly thinking, just looking, just...feeling...till from somewhere very deep, in the words of Shakespeare, I begin to find “tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

Through the meadow nature is speaking, as it has spoken to countless others who have come to learn its lessons.

Recently, I was sent a lovely pamphlet by Dean Ohlman called Celebrating the Wonder of The Wilderness. In it he shares what he has come to see/feel/learn from sitting in meadows like the one I’m in now.

“Abiding orderliness,” he writes,
“Unfathomable complexity;
Endless time and space;
Astronomical extravagance and magnitude;
Mysterious light and matter;
Awesome power;
Endless variety;
Abundant joy;
Overwhelming beauty.”

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Paul Bean makes this comment

Friday, 06 February 2009

I wonder how much our attitude in nature has to do with how full our bellies are? It's easy to march into a remote meadow wearing our North Face jackets and munching on Cliff bars and see a peaceful harmonious environment. But what would our thoughts be if we were lost, thirsty and starving with no help in sight? I bet that same meadow would instantly transform into a frighteningly competitive place. I once worked with a man who took care of lions that had been abused. He had a wonderful relationship with these animals. He could mingle with them, brush their coats and play with them like they were kittens...until it became feeding time. He had to leave the cage. To demonstrate the transformation, he approached one lion that was eating and the lion leapt at the bars. My friend said that lion would have killed him right then if not for those bars. So, peaceful and harmonious? What's for dinner tonight?
David Lewis makes this comment

Monday, 02 February 2009

Mr. Jones, I think I have been reading your stuff for so long I seemed to have written my version of a paralell to this article about a year ago. Check this: http://resourceadv.com/library/tax-breaks-for-the-rich-or-poor.html
John Gill makes this comment

Monday, 22 December 2008

Wow! Many thanks to Dewitt for putting into words my feelings as a photographer, a backpacker, a surfer, and a citizen of the planet. I keep wanting to ask people "what have you done to make this a better place today?" Not what you have bought, what you have done at work, or how much money you have, but "what have you done, today, that makes this a better place for some small part of our natual world or for the people who live here?" My favorite thing to do on a backpacking trip is to sit by a meadow stream and "watch the river flow", in essence to let the world calm my soul". I will be forwarding this moving piece to all of my outdoorsmen friends and fellow photographers. Thank you for a most wonderful Christmas Gift. Sincerely , John S. Gill

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And The Meadow Said...

Being the best for the world

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