My friend Tawnya Kelley Tiskus sent a thoughtful response to my previous post, reproduced here with my reply following:

"Hi, Lee! -- ....I just got back from a weekend with Mike & 2 friends camping in Vermont. The Dali Lama's comments were tuned into human matters (which of course is what usually concerns us) but when I stretched out next to the campfire, the stars visible above me, the fire warming my legs and the ground cool and bumpy beneath me I felt connected to the earth in a more spiritual way than I have in a long time. I thought that this is part of what's important in the world, just being. So the human matters are vital, but I think it's also true that we have to first find our self and then we can work find our personal relevance and work in the world. For me, my self is rooted in nature, and I have to spend time outside, walking, hiking, looking, exploring to remember who I am once again. Because I spend so much time doing other stuff (which warrants some examination too) I forget that I need this kind of regular retreat to recalibrate. :) -- Tawnya"

"Tawnya -- .... I agree with you completely. I would say we are spiritual beings by nature, directly connected to all other experiences in the universe, born of the earth. If we don't get in the way, or if we don't let our "other stuff" (as you call it) get in the way, we naturally experience the depths of our connectedness to each other and all nature/all the universe. I think probably all "true" faiths start with an experience of wholeness and then lose it as followers attempt to codify the experience, or own it, or in some way grasp it too tightly. It becomes splintered. What results is dogma and, worst, fundamentalism (like the religious right of my previous post). But I think the core connectedness remains, just as it remains in each of us, if we want to look for it, and I think there are traditions/practices alive today which can accelerate the search. As it does for you, connectedness sometimes comes for me when I can let go into the wonder of nature, and I experience myself as one with it. These are moments to be treasured. Thank you. -- Lee"