View allAll Photos Tagged forestpath
I took this picture up in the Cleveland National Forest. I love the natural beauty that is found in Nature, It helps center me. It also reminds me to take the time out and smell the roses and really appreciate Mother Earth.
I solo hiked in Michigan from White Cloud through majority of the Manistee National Forest for a full week reaching the 100 mile goal in this section hike. I started October 1st and saw plenty of ferns changing beautiful colors despite the full week of overcast and rain every day. There are many animals in this section ranging from the sounds of the coyotes to rumors of mountain lions (I did not confirm with park administration if this was accurate). I had the forest path to myself the majority of the time except a few mountain bikers and one other hiker that I learned about some wild mushrooms from. All in all this was a beautiful section to hike through; scary as heck alone all of the time, but it felt rewarding to be immersed in nature. Well-marked trail for the most part, except a few spots you have to look on the backs of trees to pick up the trail when it seems there is not a marker ahead.
Like many of the more prominent Shinto shrines, Atsuta contains long paths through dense forest. Unlike the Abrahamic religions, which focus on the man-made place of worship (e.g. church, mosque, synagogue) and/or on nothing tangible at all (i.e. God's presence), Shinto acknowledges, respects, reveres, celebrates, and takes advantage of the spiritual power of nature.
Looking back the other way down the path (from the previous photo), towards the torii (from two photos previous).
These forest paths are just as much a part of the shrine as any of the manmade buildings located deeper in the complex, but nevertheless, I strongly believe that there is something to be said for the conscious and intentional use of natural space (i.e. the forest) to create physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual distance between the everyday world and the heart of the shrine.
Any basic introduction to world religions will tell you something about sacred space speaking of the space itself, that the forest is sacred, and that the heart of the shrine itself needs physical space, delineation, distance, distinction away from the mundane world in order to maintain its purity. Or something like that.
I quite like that idea of sacred space; and it seems to be a fairly popular topic in academia these days, too. It's certainly a very valid concept.
But the human experience within spirituality, religion, and tradition, must play a major part as well, if not the primary, sole, part. Does the shrine exist as sacred without any people present? What would it mean if that were the case?
The delineation, distinction, and distance created by these forest paths is not solely a matter of physical distance relating to the sacredness of the shrine itself. Rather, it serves a very important role in providing time and the proper atmosphere or environment, as one walks down the paths, to shift one's mindset from that of the mundane world into that of the spiritual world.
We talk about this sort of thing a lot in Judaism (and I am sure in most other religions as well), but it was only through contemplating Shinto that I really understood it. When my rabbi spoke of such things, I took him to mean it in some intangible, spiritual way, but now I understand that he meant it in a much more practical way. In Judaism, this manifests not so much in physical space, in the way one physically walks into a Shinto shrine and gradually shifts mindsets as they approach the geographical heart of the shrine, but rather, in terms of time. In Judaism, we approach holiness by taking the time to work our way up to the holiest of prayers, by placing other prayers before them, by having lengthy services which slowly, gradually work their way up to a certain state of mindfulness.
Agasthyavanam Biological Park, a protected area in the Western Ghats, an area of 31 square kilometers, the park lies between the Neyyar and Peppara Wildlife Sanctuaries, established in 1997. Its name derives from the famous Agastimalai Agasthyakoodam Peak, which is visible at a distance from the park. Kottur Reserve forest is included in the Agasthyavanam Biological Park.
Location: Kottur Reserve Forest (part of Agasthyavanam Biological Park), Kottoor Section, Kottoor (Kottur), Kuttichal, Kattakada, Thriuvananthapuram District, Kerala State, India.
Agasthyavanam Biological Park, a protected area in the Western Ghats, an area of 31 square kilometers, the park lies between the Neyyar and Peppara Wildlife Sanctuaries, established in 1997. Its name derives from the famous Agastimalai Agasthyakoodam Peak, which is visible at a distance from the park. Kottur Reserve forest is included in the Agasthyavanam Biological Park.
Location: Kottur Reserve Forest (part of Agasthyavanam Biological Park), Kottoor Section, Kottoor (Kottur), Kuttichal, Kattakada, Thriuvananthapuram District, Kerala State, India.
C'est toujours un plaisir de randonner dans cette forêt sans rencontrer quelqu'un. Bon là juste un VTTiste qui m'a lancé un "Hé, ça va Rahan." 😁
It's always a pleasure to hike in this forest without meeting anyone. Well, just a mountain biker who said to me, “Hey, how are you Rahan.” 😁
Rando N°96.
09 Juillet 2024.
14Km50 - 3H30
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#rahan #loincloth #barefoot #primitive #hiking #beyourself #hikingbarefoot #happiness #earthing #primitivecloth #loincloths #piedsnus #forest #caveman #pagne #hikingloincloth #notperfectbody #forestpath #mormal #foretdemormal
Agasthyavanam Biological Park, a protected area in the Western Ghats, an area of 31 square kilometers, the park lies between the Neyyar and Peppara Wildlife Sanctuaries, established in 1997. Its name derives from the famous Agastimalai Agasthyakoodam Peak, which is visible at a distance from the park. Kottur Reserve forest is included in the Agasthyavanam Biological Park.
Location: Kottur Reserve Forest (part of Agasthyavanam Biological Park), Kottoor Section, Kottoor (Kottur), Kuttichal, Kattakada, Thriuvananthapuram District, Kerala State, India.
A tree of character on one of the pathways in Rowney Warren - Chicksands Woods near Haynes and Shefford in Bedfordshire UK