“Does nature offer a more immediate and primal source of transcendence? I and many believe so, for nature is our immanent world, and transcendent experience springs from the sensory communication of a waterfall, a lion’s roar, a lark’s song, a single note of music, from the perfumes of a rose or the salt-encrusted edges of an ocean marsh, from the first glimpse of a mountain peak after weeks of trekking, or of a mushroom, or a tiny ant.” So writes Carl von Essen, M.D., in his introduction to Ecomysticism: The Profound Experience of Nature as a Spiritual Guide (Bear & Company, 2010).
Citing nature lovers, scholars, and scientists alike, von Essen shows how the spiritual transcendence from an encounter in nature can heal the “Nature Deficit Disorder” of our psyches and bodies, ultimately leading to not only an expansion of our worldview, but to a clearer understanding of our self and of our natural world. innertraditions.com
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