Meditations of John Muir: Nature's Temple

by Chris Highland

Overview

Carry John Muir’s wisdom with you in this inspirational guide that features 60 of his most insightful quotes.

As a patriarch of the American environmental movement, John Muir helped to give birth to the national park system, the Sierra Club, and a myriad of smaller groups devoted to saving rivers, redwoods, and wildlife. Yet, he is also a spiritual parent who leads us down unmarked trails of the spirit. By urging us to simply be present in the world around us, loving and honoring it as our garden home, his poetic insight liberates life.

In Meditations of John Muir, editor Chris Highland pairs 60 Muir quotes with selections from other celebrated thinkers and spiritual texts. Take this pocket-size guide with you on backpacks, nature hikes, and camping trips. Let Muir’s words enrich your experience as you ponder the wilderness from riverbank, mountaintop, or as you relax beside your campfire.

Inside you’ll find:

• 60 inspiring John Muir quotes
• Selections of text from other philosophical minds
• Short excerpts for convenient reading

Muir’s exuberance for nature was the touchstone for his commitment to the earth and all of its creatures. Let him lead you along the ultimate adventure that treks every range of light. Then venture off on your own deertrails of the heart, harkening to his granite gospel that calls for you “to get as near to the heart of the world” as you can.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780899972855
Publisher:	Wilderness Press
Publication date:	09/15/2001
Series:	Nature's Inspiration
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	522,965
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Chris Highland is an interspiritual chaplain, author, songwriter and poet. He completed his undergraduate studies in religion and philosophy in Seattle, Washington, before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area to complete his Masters degree. A passionate saunterer, he enjoys an intimate relation with Nature in forests, mountains and waterfalls. An avowed heretic (“one who seeks new paths”), Chris’ writing reflects his exploration of the edges of human society and his playful search for what Emerson called “high, clear and spiritual conversation,” to be had by each and every one of us as “beggars on the highway.” Chris is the author of “Meditations of John Muir: Nature’s Temple,” “Meditations of Henry David Thoreau: A Light in the Woods,” and “Meditations of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Into the Green Future,” all from Wilderness Press.

Read an Excerpt

Here at the Right Moment

Look at that, now. Why, it looks as if these giants of God’s great army had just now marched into their stations; every one placed just right, just right! What landscape gardening! What a scheme of things! And to think that [God] should plan to bring us feckless creatures here at the right moment, and then flash such glories at us! Man, we’re not worthy of such honor!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

“One impulse from a vernal wood, Will teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.”
~William Wordsworth

Table of Contents

Introduction

Meditations

Sources

Acknowledgments

Photos

About the Author

More Meditations

Editorial Reviews

Wilderness Press, which specializes in outdoor books and maps for backpackers and hikers, makes a foray into the world of eco-spirituality with The Meditations of John Muir: Nature's Temple, edited by Chris Highland. Here, Muir muses on discovering God in nature, describing one particularly sylvan park as "full of God's thoughts." Highland has juxtaposed long quotes from Muir's journals with short reflections drawn from sacred texts the world over. With its small size and attractive format, this book makes the perfect addition to every naturalist's knapsack. ( Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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