Response
from
Readers
Thanks to all of you who have responded to
the Essays, the Books, the Photos, the Ideas.
I appreciate your honest and thoughtful reflections.
~Chris
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"What a wonderful book [Meditations of Walt
Whitman], both as to conception and execution! The same applies to
the other books in the series as well. 'Nature meditations' should
be part of the curricula in institutions of higher learning throughout the
land. How well each book in the series speaks for Chris! They
bespeak moral sensibility, an imaginative, scholarly mind, and a caring,
sensitive soul."
~Vimukta, Hindu monk Northern California
"What a beautiful website and thank you for placing your writings on the web. I am very interested in hearing more about your ideas for Earth Chaplaincy. . . . My story is a little similar to yours and I would like to connect with you to hear more about your concept of an Earth Chaplain." ~Judith, interfaith chaplain Pacifica, CA USA
"I adore your website. . .I meander through it. . . . It is a sanctuary for me." ~Lori, technical manager San Diego, CA USA
"I loved your web-site. Your poetry favorites are exciting and profound. I like your poetry." ~Baird, retired physician Langley, WA USA
"Chris, I just finished your essay ["End of Religion"]. Very nice. Speaks my language." ~Dan Virginia, USA
"I enjoyed your website greatly. I was doing a search on Jesus and John Muir, and somewhere in the googleism I got to Nature Temple. Well done. Technically I am a native to Nepal. Kathmandu to be exact. That is where my exposure to the roof top of the world, different cultures, hinduism, and buddhism birthed. Later in life I moved to Washington, and I suppose as far as the states go, Washington is home to my soul. I lived outside of Leavenworth on a apple orchard. The Cascades became my sanctuary so to speak. In some ways they still are. . . Now I am over in Idaho. Different mountains in Idaho. There are over 350 peaks over 10,000 ft. But the Cascades are home, and maybe someday I will get back.
I grew up in a Presbyterian church. That was a
drag. Not cause it was Presbyterian. Baptist, Methodist, Unity,
Catholicism....they all would have been a drag.
I heard and knew about God.....but I did not know
God. Big difference. Today, humbly I can say I know God.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing." ~Jim Idaho, USA (native of Kathmandu, Nepal)
"Just a quick note to congratulate you on your
intellectual honesty, spiritual courage, and aesthetic and literary
sensibilities. (I found your website while doing a search on John
Burroughs.)
My path, though different in its details is,
nevertheless, significantly similar. I, too, was very religious in early
life, was ordained for the clergy, and ultimately left such undue
certainties behind, preferring the honest over the familiar. Yet, like
you--and Emerson and Burroughs and many others--I did not see the
constructive alternative to religion being the uninspired science of
mere cataloguing and scrutinizing. Intensity of experience and
imagination and emotion and relationship to the whole...have their
places, too."
~Michael
"What a pleasure it was for me to read and know your mentality and spirit towards Mother Nature, on the web. It has become my great dream to have some of your favourite works on those well known naturalists of our planet. I am from Ethiopia and have deep devotion for Nature and it's servants like you. I am not bare in mind when I am in contact with Nature, with Spirit." ~Thomas, Geography and Environment major Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
"I have been a Natural Spiritualist all of my life. I
am a Native American, Creek Nation. Everything that you have said about
Natural Spirituality is correct. It is so simple and yet the powers of
creation are so complex that it is breath taking if you look deeply into
it.
It does not matter what religious background that you
come from, Natural Spirituality does not hold anything against an
individual. Natural Spirituality is all the religions in one and yet it
is not. But you know that.
One thing that I tell people about Natural Spirituality
is that it is like a path that you discovered in the forest. You decide
to see where this path leads you and you follow it. The path may seem
dangerous at times with fallen trees, rock slides, quicksand, and things
that block your way and the path may take several turns and twists and you
may get lost but remember, at the end of that path is the most awesome
view of the extraordinary powers of creation.
What would it take for you to start the Earth Chaplain Organization? I talk with people who are interested in Natural Spirituality all over the world. Most people say that Natural Spirituality is what they have been searching for. I must agree. It is something that is a feeling deep down inside you that is awakened." ~Benny, Creek Nation Oklahoma, USA
"I am interested in helping to establish a network of earth chaplaincy. Was very impressed and moved when reading your web site. . . . Hope that I might be of some assistance in building an earth-based pantheist chaplaincy." ~Thomas, Public School Teacher Toronto, Canada
"I was surfing the internet for 'sacred nature' and I came across your beautiful website. I believe in nature as my spiritual home. . .and people of all faiths are welcome. God is too big for one religion. . . I worship through nature, in nature I feel the presence of the sacred mystery of life. Thank you for your web site, an inspiration to my inner self. . . I will visit your site often, it gives me deep spiritual awareness." ~Lynn Georgia, USA
"I just finished reading your web pages. . .and I want to applaud your vibrant existence. . . I am very excited about your ideas for creating a Nature Temple and establishing interspiritual Earth Chaplains! I want to know more about what being an Earth Chaplain involves." ~Paxdora, Pantheist-index.net {Earth Chaplaincy is listed under "celebration"}
"This is so cool what you are doing. . .thank you so much for sharing it. Your writings stay with me and influence my life and my family, how I see and respond to this beautiful earth and the people around me." ~Karlene, Actress and Unitarian California, USA
"I want to thank you. . .for sharing your lens of life with us. You've influenced me to decide to leave my job [in six months]. . . . I can see through you that I am denying myself too much of the everyday joy in life by working in a life-suppressing environment." ~Janet, Social Worker Seattle, Washington, USA
"I have been enjoying and savoring my 'walk with Waldo'. . .It is a book that I will read and re-read. I really appreciate your intuition in pairing the other writings with Emerson's essays. Thank you so much for sharing it with me." ~Marsha, Woodcraft Artist Langley, Washington, USA
"I find your web page very productive and interesting. More information on Earth Chaplains!" ~Pat, Member Universal Pantheist Society
"Thanks, I needed that [essay on "Livelihood"]. I am in the throes of figuring out who I am right now as I am not defined by job or title or role. I liked your essay and the one before this as well." ~Jack, Minister California, USA
"Thank you for your visit [to our college English class]. Your presentation and discussion trans-formed a very ordinary unit on [Walt] Whitman into something very special, very inspirational, and very mind-opening that the students and I will remember for a long time to come. You are truly a gifted teacher, and I want to thank you again for that wonderful gift." ~Chad, Community College Instructor Bellingham, Washington, USA
"Dear Free-thinker, Good essay. Good to be reminded of all our foremothers and fathers. We need to claim that ground today. . .and tomorrow. You are, and I am too." ~Carol, Interfaith Council Director California, USA
"Congratulations on another excellent essay! I'm glad you presented it at a Unitarian Universalist fellowship too." ~Harold, Webmaster Sierra Club; Universal Pantheist Society
"Wow, Chris! I just went to your website and clicked on every photo, each one making me yearn to be in it. Then I read down the quotes, until I came to the one beginning 'There is no need for an altar.' I said, yesss! This is my favorite! Until I got down to the end and found out it was yours. This is the inside of my soul." ~Patricia, Writer Coupeville, Washington, USA
"Oh, you are ranting again! Keep it up!" ~Todd, Teacher, Composer and Minister San Francisco, California, USA
"For years I have been wondering about our need for physical shrines and temples, obligatory pilgrimages, etc. and the need for change as in, focusing on our internal temple, the one within ourselves. I found your site and your work with naturetemple very interesting. I have even checked out availability of your meditations series on Amazon. Keep up the good work." ~Theresa Ottawa, Canada
"I'm on an airplane to Houston tonight, so have some time to catch up on my reading (i.e., your writing). For some reason unknown to me I started at the bottom and am working my way up. So far I've gotten through "Just Us, or Justice". These are interesting - I want to keep reading them so that must be a good sign. You've had some really good experiences. Your writing is strongest when you're relating a personal experience - the page really lights up when you're telling a story. I think you should consider expanding some of the storylines." ~Mark, Business Executive Chicago, Illinois, USA
"I just read your online book, 'Why I Am No Longer a Christian." Thank you. I am currently on a spiritual journey, mid-life quest to find what is true about religion and life. I was raised in the Baptist church, for many years attended fundamentalist churches and for the past couple of years no church. I have always said 'I wish we could have church outside.' I have always felt closest to God in beautiful natural surroundings. I have longed to live in the mountains, in the valleys, in natural places. . .I am blessed to have a gazebo for my sanctuary. It is surrounded by trees, plants, flowers, birds and squirrels. . . I'm learning about wisdom traditions. . . There is so much out there. . . So much and yet, I'm most at peace in the quiet of a forest. Your words encourage me. I am not alone." ~Susan Texas, USA Add Your Response!
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