Places of the Soul

I feel a sense of my place, like I am home, whenever I am in Rocky Mountain National Park whether on high tundra landscapes with wildflowers oscillating in the wind, along mountain streams that sprint toward lakes and valleys, high on mountains with 360-degree views, walking in lightly falling snow, or encountering living creatures such as moose, snowshoe hares, or scurrying chipmunks.

I think about the meanings of place often. Space and place are not the same as scholars have written. Space is a physical location that may or may not have meaning. A place is a space where meaning has been imbued by an individual. A place can be where your soul thrives. According to Wendell Berry, place and identity are closely related. He suggested that if you do not know where you are, you do not know who you are.

In thinking about my experiencing the Park, I recently saw reference to sense of place as the landscape of the soul, and I think that explains my affinity for this Park. I lived for 27 years in North Carolina and had a productive career with great friends and colleagues. But the landscape of North Carolina never felt like home to me. Whenever I was in the high snow-covered mountains and in open spaces, I felt I was home.

Other places have had important meanings for me. One is the farm where I grew up. I didn’t have the words to describe at the time what it felt like to be in the outdoors, to play in the creek (crick), to search for the wild critters, and to smell the earth, but I knew I resonated with it deeply. Iowa is a beautiful land and the rolling sand hills of Eastern Iowa will always be a geography of my heart. It was home for me for my formative years, but things change and so did my identity with the land.

Another consideration for me is how place can relate to spiritual senses about a setting. I experienced a strong sense of place in Wisconsin when I spent time at Picnic Point. The path, the wind singing through the trees, and Mendota Lake lapping on the shore always gave me the impression that I had visited it many times before, perhaps in previous lives. This place pulled me strongly, but I have not returned for many years. It is a memory in my soul.

Finally, some places I have never been but feel a deep connection such as the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Knowing something about an area gives me the opportunity to care intensely even though I may never experience it directly. Spending time in a space may make it a special place but having a context about the value of its existence provides me with an affinity for a specific environment.

I have visited many spaces around the world. It is not only the physical topography but also the people and cultures that make environments special. On a day-to-day basis, however, I have never felt a stronger connection to my soul than the landscape of the places where I now wander in the mountains and the privilege I have to experience deep engagement in what the Park has to offer every day, every season.