My Thin Place
Thin Places are locations where the connection between this world and the eternal is well... Thin. It is a place where you realize there is more to life than your brief time on this planet, that there is something beyond, something there, something that is always beyond our perception. Somehow, however, in a Thin Place the eternal seems closer. It still defies explanation, its just beyond the grasp of our perception, but you know its there.
Hiking and horseback riding through Patagonia was incredible, but it was those quiet movements that left me stunned and left me speechless. I spent hours watching the clouds form and swirl around the mountains only to fade across the steppe. Twice, while hiking, I was forced to kneel down to steady myself against the gale force winds coming off the Andean Ice sheet. Kneeling was a physical response to an overwhelming physical force, but there was something else. Kneeling and bowing my head felt right. There were moments, many moments that I felt something else and almost felt I understood something deeper. It was right there but always just beyond my capabilities to perceive.
I love the natural world, the ecosystems and its inhabitants, but its not just a desire to be out in nature. Its a yearning to understand and find myself. I recently read the book, "The Salt Path" by Raynor Winn and its sequels "The Wild Silence" and "Landlines" which introduced me to the term, thin places. In the book, The Salt Path, the author's husband, Moth, finds healing of his terminal disease through hiking, the adversity of their travels, and being out in nature. Hiking together, they both find solace, hope, and healing.
There's something about being in nature that reinvigorates one's soul. Thin places seem to magnify that effect.
Quiet moments alone and shared moments with others are equally important. Being in one of these thin places opens your mind and heart, brings others in, and helps me understand what's truly important in life.
Thin places can be shared or they can be unique to you. Maybe its just the awe of a place like Patagonia that opens my heart to the eternal that the modern world seems to stifle, but I think its more than that. There is indeed magic in this world. It's our inability to perceive it which challenges us.
I may never be able to perceive or explain this any better, but i'm going to keep searching, keep looking for thin places, and seeking to perceive.