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Picture: Yellowstone Bison with steaming pools and geysers behind
We have been exploring a world of wonder here at Yellowstone. From placid Bison grazing down valleys to Elk-bucks trumpeting their call to square off in battle, a Silver Wolf making his way through the woods, a Large Grey Owl pouncing on his prey just feet away, to a Trumpeter Swan gliding on river’s wake and viewing from a seven-thousand-foot altitude an amazing blanket of stars and the river of the Milky Way seemingly without end—and that does not count geysers and hot springs that make up three quarters of the world’s supply, all within a few hours’ drive.
Nature reminds us that creation operates beautifully through lawful action, but it is also brutally destructive. There was a fire here in 1988 that destroyed over a million acres of forest. On the one hand the destruction was enormous, but the after-effect has also been tremendously creative. Lodge Pole Pines burst open their seeds–that only happens inthe heat of fire. The fire burned in a patchwork pattern that made reseeding happen at accelerated rates. The earth was fed with the ashes of the fire’s destruction and became fertility itself. The benefits of the fire have been remarkable; also remarkable is the estimate that fewer than 300 animals perished in the enormous and out of control blaze.
From a human standpoint, the workings of nature can make one feel small. From a Divine perspective, it makes God extremely great. Man is definitely part of all that is, however all that is, is a marvel and more than the mind can contain. To be in awe, to be in continual awe and wonder is to be close to God.
Picture: colorful hot springs at West Thumb
There are many encounters with the sacred that carries with it the assurance, “Be not afraid.” Words are so difficult to encapsulate any spiritual experience, but when in the Divine Presence there is oftentime the feeling that one will be overwhelmed, that it is all too much. That is the case of the human ego trying to wrap its arms around God rather than simply surrendering to Him; to be not afraid. We want to understand God, to know God, and really we want to control God—that is what the human ego does in order to make itself not feel overly small or insignificant. God-experience teaches us that the human intellect is puny, but that the Spirit within is great; so great that it can reach out to the Infinite. This reaching out can only be done through total and complete surrender, an absolute trust that lowers all defenses and barriers.
While the mind may wish to stand without reserve before the throne of the Infinite, in reality it is actually very difficult because of years, lifetimes, of creating those very defenses. We would like to think we are in control. Obviously there are forces far greater than we can possibly calculate. We think we can determine what is good and what is bad—out of control fires that burn down forests are thought to be bad. Yet the good that has come about from the enormous fire here is undeniable. On a galactical scale suns burn up or go supernova, they also shoot out unbelievable flares across vast space, and all of these things cause great damage, yet in the total calculation of what makes for growth these events may very well contain the seeds of new life elsewhere—can we ever really know the total good and the bad of it?
Surrounded by natural and spiritual forces that make one shrink into insignificance we are quite often reminded that man is small. If the human intellect is too puny to know these things, then what are we to do? The answer: we are to be good stewards of what we do know. Still greater, in our humility we surrender to the supreme Consciousness, the Creator of all that is, and through that surrender do as He wills for us; oftentimes not knowing all the ways in which our thoughts, words and actions will affect this world, but knowing deep within that it is fulfilling virtue. We only know that when we act according to the highest light in any particular situation He may find us fit instruments to do ultimate good. You know this because you feel Him working through you, thinking through you, acting through you in perfect purity and without a trace of self.
In this hand-in-glove relationship you are at peace, you experience bliss, you know beyond all possibility of doubt that He is a real and the true power working through every cell of your being. That is all you need know, and that fact fills you up and makes you complete. As I write these words I feel His power and bliss flowing through me, and my own intellect has no idea from one moment to the next as to where He is going and what He is doing next—and it is all perfect. All the wonders in this magnificent world cannot match even a moment of perfection you have in Spirit. But even as you discover your union in Him, Spirit reveals its perfection and in that experience the world is also known to be perfect.
The Lord commanded you to be perfect, and it is only when you merge into the fabric of God’s Being that you can be perfect—Perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Nature is here to remind you of your insignificance, God is here to remind you of your greater nature, to know your oneness with Him.
Picture: Great Grey Owl-World’s largest owl
