A Closer Walk with God

This is one of my favourite photos taken from the Maple Mountain trail. This is one of the places I hike. People have asked me why I hike -  I'm passionate about it and I've been doing it for years. As I have more time for myself now, I'll be hiking even more.

Reason number one - see above photo. It's the sheer beauty of it. In my experience, two legs will take me to places of beauty that no other transportation can equal. And visual beauty speaks to my soul. It overwhelms me with feelings of gratitude. When I look out on a vista like this, I feel truly blessed. I feel closer to God - whoever or whatever he or she is.

I also hike because the act of walking, especially for long periods of time, puts me a state of semi-meditation. Some - actually most - of my creative ideas come to me while I hike. I remember hiking on the slopes of Mount Garibaldi some years ago when the entire and complete lyrics of a song dropped into my mind (heart). I wrote them out when I got home and they went on to win first prize in a radio contest. Garibaldi, like Rainier, is one of the sacred mountains.

All of this brings me around to God. I was thinking, a few weeks ago when I was signing up for Yoga classes, about the universal desire to have a direct experience of God. Buddhists meditate and Christians pray and all manner of people fast - and people take mind altering substances - all to have that direct experience.

Those who achieve the state - nirvana in the Buddhist tradition - report a kind of ecstasy - an understanding of God and the universe and themselves and - well - everything. Bliss.

I wondered if I had ever had that fleeting experience. I'm not sure. I think I've been close. At any rate, the entire point is to be one with God and to realize that you are, indeed, God. Now I believe this to be true - I have always believed this - and not only intellectually. I feel pretty darn sure that we are all one and we are all God. So , my question is, does it matter if I have a direct experience of God? As long as I know who I am, is that good enough? After all, I am happy; I feel blessed. I am excited about life. I love the feeling of going to sleep at night; I love getting up in the morning. I love my dog and my friends and reading and writing and truthfully, the list could go on forever (always ending in chocolate, of course - it has to end with chocolate).

I wonder if that is good enough. Just knowing. Or is it Goody enough?

Could be