The wonder is that
we can see these trees
and not wonder more.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
On my walk up the Jockey Cap Trail this summer I stopped regularly. An unusual trunk, a fallen tree, a newly sprouted mushroom, they all called to me. But this group of five trees also made me wonder.
Five separate trees, all about the same age in a circle with nothing else around them. Had there been a center tree, now gone, from which the five sprouted? Amazing that they all survived and flourished.
You can see how Emerson's philosophy came to be Thoreau's inspiration. Both men walked the woodlands and fields of Concord with a rich sense of wonder. If I gained nothing else from my reading of both men's writing, this call to walk with constant wonder would suffice.
In many aspects it is this sense of wonder that is at the core of contemplative photography for me. A solitary saunter along a woodland path is the height of enjoyment. I can hear the words of many of my favorite writers as I go along and I thank them for their constant inspiration...
Between every two pines is a
doorway to a new world.
- John Muir
No comments:
Post a Comment