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Product Description JOHN MUIR’S exuberance for nature was the touchstone for his commitment to the earth and all its creatures. As naturalist, writer, and activist, Muir shaped the spiritual and physical boundaries of some of our most treasured national parks. Editor Chris Highland pairs 60 insightful Muir quotes with selections from other celebrated thinkers and spiritual texts. Take this pocket-size guide with you on backpacks, nature hikes, and camping trips. Let Muir’s words enrich your experience as you ponder the wilderness from river bank, mountain top, or as you relax beside your campfire under night stars. From Publishers Weekly Wilderness Press, which specializes in outdoor books and maps for backpackers and hikers, makes a foray into the world of eco-spirituality with The Meditations of John Muir: Nature's Temple, edited by Chris Highland. Here, Muir muses on discovering God in nature, describing one particularly sylvan park as "full of God's thoughts." Highland has juxtaposed long quotes from Muir's journals with short reflections drawn from sacred texts the world over. With its small size and attractive format, this book makes the perfect addition to every naturalist's knapsack. ( Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Review I am grateful that Wilderness Press has put this book out for the world to benefit from. -- Former Vice President Al Gore From the Author It is a delight to see that a dozen years after my little Muir book was published it is still being enjoyed from the cities to the mountaintops. The wild, freethinking naturalist/philosopher continues to saunter in my thoughts, my writings and the classes I teach. His wisdom deserves to be honored by serious (and light) meditation and decisive action for the environment. Aye, Johnnie, keep us climbing! About the Author After serving as an interfaith chaplain and minister for many years, Chris Highland now identifies as a freethinker and Humanist celebrant. He has taught at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Dominican University of California, College of Marin, Cherry Hill Seminary, UNC-Asheville and Blue Ridge Community College. After leaving the ministry, he was the director of an emergency shelter and managed two innovative homes for independent seniors. Chris is the author of A Freethinkers' Gospel, Meditations of John Burroughs and other titles. He writes a weekly "Highland Views" column for the Religion page of a local paper. His primary website is chighland.com where his essays, photography and videos are presented. Chris lives in Asheville, NC with his wife Carol, a Presbyterian minister. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Here at the Right Moment Look at that, now. Why, it looks as if these giants of God’s great army had just now marched into their stations; every one placed just right, just right! What landscape gardening! What a scheme of things! And to think that [God] should plan to bring us feckless creatures here at the right moment, and then flash such glories at us! Man, we’re not worthy of such honor! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! “One impulse from a vernal wood, Will teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.”~William Wordsworth