A journey begun with a single step is by its very nature a leap of faith. For many years I have traveled to the backwoods of Maine, to the “Thin Places’ where the grand design of nature intersects the divine. 

   

     A rock, a human, and a tree are all subject to the same unbending laws of nature, but living beings exhibit nonrational behaviors that include intuition, creativity, empathy, and love (among others). At every point in time sentient beings choose paths that may or may not be logical, are sometimes counterintuitive, and might be wrong. Intent matters. 

 

     This likelihood of being wrong is actually an opportunity to see that not everything in the universe can be explained mechanistically through the laws of nature. Water does not flow up the mountain, sand does not turn into gold, but we make mistakes and this is evidence that we possess free will. Did I turn right when I should have turned left, did I lay down when I should have run? Though random disasters happen the truth is that they only seem random, what is really at work is an exquisitely complex set of circumstances that do not provide us with enough perspective to see them coming. Combine this with the influence of choice multiplied billions of times over and the result is chaos.  Many would define chaos as random-without order, but there are patterns in chaos if we look more deeply into it. An entire science called chaos theory has developed around this closer study. 

 

     My lense is water, the life giver that cleanses both body and soul. My spirit is fed, refreshed, and healed. I hope to be touched with inspiration and simple joy while reveling in the almost overwhelming beauty of forest, river, and sky. To feel divine connection is my quest, a 2002  Honda minivan is my chariot.

 

     There is no varnishing the truth that the first day of the trip has been a baptism by Interstate. The drive to the hinterlands is 20 hours uninterrupted, it took 25 to reach the North Maine Woods this time. On a very long drive there is time to think about just about anything.  

 

     I found myself considering the possibility that our civilization is a cancer that might permanently damage the living earth. Cresting a hill, in the night, I came upon Scranton PA, its lights like a tumor on the earth. Tendrils of streetlights trailing away spread the impact of human presence far and wide, sprawl revealed in the darkness. All is not light.

 

     The portal to the forest cathedral is a wondrous drive from Skowhegan to Jackman Maine on US 201, from urban, to country, to remote. The highlight is "Attean View" overlooking the Moose river valley and courses of mountains that reach to Canada. The trees are in their autumn glory, their leaves afire in red and gold across the immense landscape. It is amazing that the leaves display their most awesome beauty even as they die. They serve their function, blaze but briefly, and become fertilizer. It is the circle of life, and my question is this: why do we perceive beauty at all? Everything else the leaf has done in the course of its existence is necessary except for our perception that it is beautiful.

 

     This is the interface between nature and the divine. Sentience endows us with the ability to experience beauty, love, wonder, and hope as a choice- a decision. We and other sentient beings possess free will that is expressed in ways that are neither predetermined, nor necessarily rational. I have come to interpret nature and especially life as a divine expression of the creator rational or not. 

 

     The yearly ritual of traveling to Maine is a significant commitment. Somehow, in the course of many years, I have returned to the sacred ground and waters of Northern Maine every year. When away, I have a yearning to return that sometimes feels like desperate hunger. It remains my spiritual home, a place where I have had most of my deepest spiritual experiences. 

 

     From Jackman To Millinocket the shortest route is a dirt highway that is often in better condition than the paved roads of Maine. On that road is a gateway at Millinocket, Maine that opens to more forested land much of which is very sparsely inhabited. When I get North of there I know I have come home. It feeds my soul. 

 

     Just past Millinocket is the vast Baxter State park, home to Mount Katahdin which dominates the landscape for millions of acres. It is holy, and the very sight of its majestic outline quickens my spirit. I have camped, and fished all around the mountain and the view is a very present reminder of the grand inscrutable scheme that is all creation.  This is a “Thin Place” where communion with the divine is possible. Many of the sacred places I know are in the “Crown of Maine.” The waters are hallowed- the Penobscot, The Aroostook, The Allagash, The St. John, and the Fish River all have the power to transport me to a higher state of being. I have paddled and camped on all of these waters, finding places where the veil is thin and the beauty of land, sky and water urge me to live in wonder.

 

     This journey began many years ago and has continued to bring me to new heights of spiritual awakening has informed and reinforced my hopes and aspirations of living in the “Beloved Community” that I glimpse only when I wander the “Thin Places.” 

​