This is the painting by Everett Ruess which inspired my thoughts: my own personal views.

There’s a place in most of us which longs for the magnitude of the high places in the rugged mountains; or maybe some long for the freedom of wide open places of plains and seas. The magnitude and the freedom blaze within our hearts. A yearning. Call it transcendence. Call it connection. We might not have seen these mountain peaks or lived the wide open places but we yearn for them nevertheless.

As a young adult, I stood on the cliffs of Blyde River Canyon, South Africa I felt beyond words the  feelings of joy, exhilaration, admiration, healing, refreshment and I could only attribute my experience as ‘coming close to the magnificence of God.’ God Creator. Sacred presence of God. You have your name to insert here. It was an unforgettable experience. I felt like I could touch the Sacred.

I didn’t feel like this just because I mapped the Canyon for the South African government in 1983 but because I was coming in touch with the Creator of the Canyon. Seeing the sheer faces, cliffs and drops was awe inspiring. I felt a presence. I marveled at the infinite views that rolled on and on beyond the canyon. I had come in great need as I had been suffering burnout and migraines. No time to explain how I got there but it was an unplanned trip, and just what I needed. That first evening after driving through the landscapes I went to bed with the curtains open giving us a nocturnal view of plains and grandeur and a thunderstorm rolled in. I had never seen fork lightening before and it totally took my breath away. I felt so safe in my little chalet yet one-with-the-earth. The whole experience refreshed and revived my soul and I came back home ready for my life. I felt like I had met God in a very sacred way.

Everett’s peaks hint of sun kissed crests and mists in the valleys which are painted in watercolours. Watercolour has an unpredictable nature of which artists are not always in control. It’s the excitement of unpredictability that takes on a life of its own. In this image the blue hues suggest views and we’re not quite sure where the land ends and the sky starts. The valleys and peaks are a bit like our own lives. We can’t have the one without the other. The shadows of the valleys are not just about gloom, coldness, and fears; it’s where we see ourselves as we truly are: we find ourselves as small, ordinary, prosaic, unremarkable, helpless, vulnerable and finite. It’s what keeps us humble as we remember we are merely human but it often takes the perspective of the peaks to really understand that.

The peaks on the other hand, being so magnificent in grandeur, beauty and splendor speak of the transcendence, supernatural, mystical, spiritual, eternal, and boundlessness. Those peak experiences, whether they come in dreams, visions, or in actual mountain experiences are often times we could not have orchestrated. They are the experiences we long for. Sometimes we don’t know why we long for them other times we know it is for healing, refreshment, joy, peace.  

All I know is that if we journey to the mountains we must come to a standstill in quietness to gape at them in amazement. There’s a holy silence that fills the atmosphere, just a bird’s cry or twitter here and there reminds us of how dull our words and voices can be compared to the magnificence. You can visit the peaks of the world. You can drive over high passes or ask for dreams and visions: whichever way you do it, it really puts life into perspective. We are small, vulnerable beings living in the landscapes of this Earth we call home. We are brothers and sisters.

This prompt, Everett Ruess’s water colour, comes from the writing club I belong to.

Thank you for visiting and reading.
Take care till next time.