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To the great tree-loving fraternity we belong. We love trees with universal and unfeigned love, and all things that do grow under them or around them – the whole leaf and root tribe.
~ Henry Ward Beecher
Looking Up – photo by KR Backwoods Photography – used with permission
….Every moment is an opportunity to be awake, to be fully present and alive. And yet according to spiritual teachings some moments need to be waited for because they give us a greater opportunity. They are moments that belong not just to the succession of days but the patterns of the soul and rhythms of the cosmos. There are moments when many cycles come together, when our individual and cosmic destinies are aligned…
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Iceland, photo by Devadana Sanctuary
I would like you to show me, if you can, where the line can be drawn between an organism and its environment. The environment is in you. Its passing through you. Youre breathing it in and out. You and every other creature.
~ Wendell Berry
Weisendanger Falls, photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
~Eden Phillpotts
Ruby Beach, photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Photo by TAO Photography, used with permission
I would like you to show me, if you can, where the line can be drawn between an organism and its environment. The environment is in you. Its passing through you. Youre breathing it in and out. You and every other creature.
~ Wendell Berry
Australia – Photo by Mark Gray Photography, used with permission
One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend only a little of this mystery every day.
~ Albert Einstein
Blue Skies at Night – photo by Mirwais Azami Photography, used with permission
the next stage of our collective and individual evolution allows a shift from isolation and separation into oneness and communion with all creation.
~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, “Working with Oneness”
Grand Canyon and Lightening – photo by Don Smith Photography, used wth permission
The tree is a powerful symbol. Trees appear in many creation stories, such as the World Ash or the Garden of Eden. Religions, especially the Druids, have revered trees. Buddha was enlightened sitting under a Bodhi tree. Christmas is celebrated by decorating Christmas trees. There are sacred trees throughout the world. ‘Family tree’ has a symbolic connection to the theme of immortality.
~Jean Shinoda Bolen
Sequoia – photo by Devadana Sanctuary
Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.
~ Gary Snyder
Victoria Falls, Zambia – photo by Aubrey
Every breath is a sacrament, an affirmation of our connection with all other living things, a renewal of our link with our ancestors and a contribution to generations yet to come. Our breath is a part of life’s breath, the ocean of air that envelopes the earth.
~ David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature
Photo by Zastrozzi Dh Photography, used with permission
We return thanks to our mother, the Earth,
which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams,
which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun,
that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in Whom is embodied all goodness,
and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.
~ Iroquois Prayer
Paradise Creek, Mt. Rainier – photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
Oneness is very simple: everything is included and allowed to live according to its nature.
~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, “Working With Oneness”
Photo by TAO Photography, used with permission
And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.
~ Black Elk Speaks
Ruby Beach, photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man.
~ Orison Swett Marden
Lithfield Cliffs, Hawaii – photo by Don Smith Photography, used with permission
