A Lesson in Time from Brother Bear
“Bears are made of the same dust as we, and they breathe the same winds and drink of the same waters. A bear's days are warmed by the same sun, his dwellings are overdomed by the same blue sky, and his life turns and ebbs with heart pulsing like ours. He was poured from the same first fountain. And whether he at last goes to our stingy Heaven or not, he has terrestrial immortality. His life, not long, not short, knows no beginning , no ending. To him life unstinted, unplanned, is above the accidents of time, and his years, markless and boundless, equal eternity.”
- John Muir, John of the Mountains - The Unpublished Journals of John Muir (1938), 82-83
It would be fine with me if you simply stopped now and reflected on this quote. It conveys so eloquently and simply everything I have come to believe about humanity, our connection to our world and to each other. It's truth is perfect.
Rabbi Heschel taught us that Sabbath is the "sanctification of time," an idea itself that demands deep contemplation. The essence of Sabbath is to spend time with the Creator; to suspend the affairs of humanity and awareness of time as we know it, not counting minutes and hours - and their value in currency. But to pass the time as the bear, rising with the morning sun and tending to the affairs of living in the presence of his Creator. If one should enter the wilderness, free of the human boundaries that separate us from the Creator and surrender to Sabbath, are we not given a glimpse of eternity? For what is eternity if not sanctified time as Brother Bear teaches us?
Eternity is the dwelling place of bears, hawks, butterflies and all Creation, save for humans whose original sin was to discover how to measure time and put a value on it. Our redemption is the gift of Sabbath, where the thin veil that is the boundary of time in humanity is pulled back. For a moment.
Forget the rules of it all. Just go! Away to the wilderness. Far away from the noise of internal combustion. Take only what you need to live. Listen to the stillness, to the trees. Drink the water. Stay for a moment. Stay for eternity. And if you are chosen for a visit by Brother Bear or Sister Doe, you will be blessed.
The mountains are calling...
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This guest post was written by Shawn Carson, a lecturer at the University of Tennessee, Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, and an avid outdoorsman who also maintains the wildsabbath.com blog. I stumbled across his site recently and reached out to him. I am delighted that he saw fit to share his thoughts with us. The photo is his, as well. (Jonathan)