Temple Wilderness: A Collection of Thoughts and Images on Our Spiritual Bond with the Earth

"There are forces in the woods, forces in the world, that lay claim to you, that lay a hand on your shoulder so gently that you do not even feel it; not at first." Rick Bass Winter: Notes From Montana Here is a compilation of insights and musings of some of my favorite authors. Included are passages from the works of Rick Bass, Thoreau, Emerson, Mark Twain, Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, John Burroughs, the Bible, Joseph Campbell, and Henry Beston. The accompanying photographs offer a quite place to meditate after reading a special passage. "Talk of mysteries! Think of our life in nature, - daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, - rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! The actual world! The common sense! Contact! Who are we? Where are we?" Henry David Thoreau, The Maine Woods My favorite is an excerpt from Richard Brautigan's The Cleveland Wrecking Yard , entitled "Used Trout Stream For Sale. Must Be Seen To Be Appreciated." Here's a taste of what you'll get: "...I'm curious about the trout stream you have for sale. Can you tell me something about it? How are you selling it?" "We're selling it by the foot length. You can buy as little as you want or you can buy all we've got left..."the salesman said. "...What kinds of animals do you have?" I asked "We only have three deer left," he said. "Oh...What about flowers?" "By the dozen," he said. "Is the stream clear?" I asked "Sir," the salesman said, " I wouldn't want you to think that we would ever sell a murky trout stream here. We always make sure they are running crystal clear before we even think about moving them." "Where's the stream at?" I asked. "I'd like to take a look at it." "It's around the back," he said. "you go straight through that door and then turn left until your outside. It's stacked in lengths. You can't miss it. The waterfalls are upstairs in the used plumbing department." On my way back to where the trout stream was piled, I found the insects. They were inside a prefabricated steel building that was selling for eighty-cents a square foot. There was a sign over the door. It said INSECTS." Good stuff!