Nature Temple: About Author Chris Highland

Chris Highland

Bachelor of Arts, Religion and Philosophy, Seattle Pacific University

Master of Divinity, San Francisco Theological Seminary

Instructor, Cherry Hill Seminary

Manager, Senior Housing Cooperative, Marin County, CA

Director, Emergency Winter Shelter, Marin County, CA (2008-2010)

Adjunct Instructor, Dominican University, San Rafael, CA

Adjunct Instructor, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA (1998-2005)

Interfaith Chaplain (1980-2005)

Ordained Presbyterian Minister (1987-2001)

Ordained ULC Minister

California Community College Teaching Credential

State of California Substitute Teacher Credential

Author, Meditations Series, Wilderness Press, Berkeley

Author, Life After Faith, My Address is a River and other works

Born in Seattle, Washington and raised in the seaside town of Edmonds, Chris refers to himself as a "Washingfornian" having lived half his life in Washington and half in California. His mother, who passed away in 1991, was an adventurous traveler who supported her journeys by working as an office manager. His father, who passed away in 1984, was a veteran of WWII, a kind, generous and thoughtful man who retired from Boeing after 30 years. Growing up in the Northwest it was natural for Chris to hike, camp and explore wilderness areas. Rain and rivers were in his blood. His spiritual stream began in these wilds before he became active in the "lake" of the Presbyterian Church. He became a leader of his church youth group while in senior high when he also began exploring rivulets of faith experience including Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical and Jewish.

Chris earned his Bachelor degree from Seattle Pacific University in 1978 with a double major in Religion and Philosophy. He became interested in mysticism, existentialist thought and comparative religion. Particularly inspired by Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, he began writing poetry. Thoreau and Emerson became lifelong mentors. Graduating from college with honors he felt strongly about remaining to teach philosophy and world wisdom, but chose to take a break from bookstudy and give time to saunter a living spiritual path. Following college he backpacked in continental Europe for three months before returning to his hometown of Edmonds. For a year he worked at a Senior Services agency in Everett before deciding to uproot and go south to attend San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS) in San Anselmo, California.

While in seminary Chris took courses through the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley focusing on comparative religion and liberation theology, gaining a working understanding of poverty, disability and human diversity. While in seminary he regularly participated in creative Jewish and radical Catholic services. He received a Masters degree (M.Div.) from SFTS in 1983. He briefly considered a doctorate in Comparative Religion, but a divorce and period of homelessness with his infant daughter intensified his commitment to a practical experience of living.

Beginning in seminary, Chris was employed for six years as a special education teacher at Cedars, a private school in Ross, where he would often conduct memorial services as an ad hoc chaplain. Then, in 1985 he began his career as an Interfaith Chaplain by becoming the first county jail chaplain in the (Frank Lloyd Wright-designed) Marin County Civic Center, just north of the Golden Gate. He developed programs designed for inmates that enhanced their understanding of wisdom traditions holding up to seven gatherings with both women and men inside each week. Throughout this period Chris taught adult education courses in local congregations centering on sacred scriptures of many traditions and introductory classes on world religions.

In 1987 Chris was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Though he never became a pastor of a congregation, he did serve for ten years as Parish Associate at St. Luke Presbyterian Church in San Rafael occasionally teaching and leading worship services. During this period Chris took personal retreats to Green Gulch Zen Farm, Zephyr Point at Lake Tahoe and the Vedanta retreat in Olema, California.

After years of soul-questioning, Chris "let go" of his ordination in the Presbyterian Church in November of 2001 (see "The Statement"), choosing to remain "simply a chaplain." After nurturing an interfaith chaplaincy in the Marin County Jail for ten years he was “released” to become chaplain with the Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy assisting people on the streets (who he calls “residentially challenged," "houseless," "homeseekers" or simply "friends"). His intention and practice on the street was providing an accessible and creative interfaith presence as well as publishing and promoting the unique Art and Poetry of the Streets (see www.homelesschaplaincy.org).

In 2005, after ten years with the chaplaincy, he left to pursue new paths of natural spirituality and earth chaplaincy, focusing on his writing and teaching passions. For three years he lived in simple one-room cabins in the forests of Whidbey Island in Washington State, creating trails, working on an organic farm and learning simplicity in a closer relationship with land. In 2007 and 2008 he worked with the South Whidbey Youth Connection in Langley, assisting at-risk youth in a drop-in activity center and starting a photography class. In 2008 he returned to Marin County to teach as an adjunct instructor at Dominican University, substitute teach in public schools, write books and blogs. In the winters of 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 he directed the County Emergency Homeless Shelter. In 2010 he joined the faculty of Cherry Hill Seminary, an online institution of higher learning based in South Carolina, offering his first course on John Muir and Walt Whitman: The Poetry and Politics of Nature.

In May of 2009 Chris married his companion and partner Carol, director of the Marin Interfaith Council, in a ceremony at Green Gulch Zen Farm led by a Jewish Rabbi, a Protestant Minister, a Zen Buddhist Priest and a Wiccan Priestess (accompanied by bagpipes, frogs and rain). His daughter Sharel, a freethinker and social worker, earned her degree from Northern Michigan University in 2010.

*Writings

In 2001 Chris published his first book, Meditations of John Muir, a collection of reflective thoughts from the famous naturalist, with companion voices of spiritual teachers, poets and other writers. The Muir book is now in its fifth printing, has been a best-seller on Amazon and is offered internationally through booksellers in the U.K., India, Asia and Australia as well as being offered at Muir's birthplace in Dunbar, Scotland.

The second book in the series, Meditations of Henry David Thoreau, came out in early 2003 and is now in its fourth printing. Meditations of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Chris' third book in the series, was published in April, 2004. Meditations of Walt Whitman, the fourth book in the series, was published in the fall of 2004. The fifth and sixth books in the series Meditations of Margaret Fuller and Meditations of John Burroughs were both published through BookSurge in 2007.

New Books in 2010: His new book, Life After Faith (a spiritual autobiography) has been published through Createspace (an Amazon company) along with My Address is a River (stories and reflections from his chaplaincies) and his first novel, Jesus and John Muir. Edge of the Falls (selected poems), The Greatest Tree of All (a children's story), and Pathfinder (selected essays) are currently published online.

Chris has read from his books at public events in Yosemite, Muir Woods, Bellingham, Seattle, Whidbey Island (Langley, Freeland, Clinton), Medford, San Rafael, San Anselmo, Sausalito, Tiburon and Fairfax, in Muir's hometown of Martinez and along the Feather and Navarro rivers.

He has had several articles published in Inspiris, a Whidbey Island online paper (May 2009) and he regularly submits comments and letters to local and international media. USA Today ran a story on his Thoreau book in 2005 (read the article) and the South Whidbey Record ran a story and photo on his Fuller and Burroughs books in 2007 (read the article).

*Photography

Chris' photography is making his style of "natural spirituality" more visible, visual. After publishing his work in all six of his Nature books and on his website, he was delighted to have his photo "Point Reyes Autumn" published as the cover shot on Louis Masson's book "The Play of Light" (Cowley, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006). A river photo was used for the cover of a brochure for a social service agency in Sonoma County, California. An exhibit of his best photography, "Exquisite Simplicity," was shown at Bayview Corner on Whidbey Island in March and April of 2008. "Nature in Black, White and Green," a collection of nine of his mounted black and white prints, was exhibited at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere, CA in April, 2010. Prints and merchandise can be purchased on Highland Images.

*Videos

In the summer of 2009 Chris created a YouTube channel for the Nature Chaplain. He has now produced over 100 segments on topics as diverse as "Faith of Our Founders," "Wolf Hunt," "Homelessness," "Religious Addiction," "Healthcare or Scare?," "Message to a Suicide Bomber," "Jesus and Gays," "Holy Books," "Walt Whitman," "Church of Nature," and a five-part series entitled, "If There is No God."

Chris welcomes comments, suggestions or invitations from readers and publishers. He is also a gifted teacher and speaker and is available for classes, presentations or readings. He can be reached at chris@naturetemple.net

Books by Chris Highland

Meditations of John Muir: Nature’s Temple

Wilderness Press, 2001. Fifth printing, 2005

Meditations of Henry David Thoreau: A Light in the Woods

Wilderness Press, 2003. Fourth printing, 2005

Meditations of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Into The Green Future

Wilderness Press, 2004. Second Printing, 2006

Meditations of Walt Whitman: Earth, My Likeness

Wilderness Press, 2004

Meditations of Margaret Fuller: The Inner Stream

BookSurge, 2007

Meditations of John Burroughs: Nature is Home