Tag Archives: Nature

Diving into May Flowers

By Robin Bates | Published: May 10, 2021

An Oliver poem and a Murdoch observation for the month of May.

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The Stars Weep with Happiness

By Robin Bates | Published: November 7, 2020

“There are no creatures you cannot love,” Tom Hennen writes in “From a Country Overlooked.” It is a message America currently needs.

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Without Nature, No Language for Soul

By Robin Bates | Published: August 29, 2020

In an age when we are exhausted by apocalyptic rhetoric, Richard Wilbur provides a poem that remind us of how much we owe to natural beauty.

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The Old Wild Place Beyond All Shame

By Robin Bates | Published: June 1, 2019

My friend Sue Schmidt alerted me to this Easter season meditation by Richard Rohr that uses a David Whyte poem to explain what Jesus meant when he said, “Anyone who wants to save his life must lose it. Anyone who loses her life will find it.” Rohr believes that Jesus is not calling for people […]

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We Have Here the Stuff of Paradise

By Robin Bates | Published: April 6, 2019

Spiritual Sunday Spring has broken all over southern Tennessee, giving me the occasion to run Edwin Markham’s wonderful “Earth Is Enough.” His view, I believe, is similar to what Jesus meant by heaven on earth. We are to find heaven in ourselves and heaven in our surroundings, not wait until we die. To focus overmuch […]

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Finding God in Nature

By Robin Bates | Published: September 2, 2018

John Gatta’s book “Making Nature Sacred” explores how nature spirituality entered into America’s religions and was noted by its creative writers.

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Tolstoy: For Happiness, Love & Sacrifice

By Robin Bates | Published: July 22, 2018

In “The Cossacks,” a dissipated young man finds spiritual meaning when he journeys to the Caucasus.

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Sleeping Outdoors

By Robin Bates | Published: July 10, 2018

Poetry adds an extra dimension to sleeping outdoors.

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Wordsworth Changed How We See Nature

By Robin Bates | Published: January 25, 2018

Writer Margaret Drabble explains how Wordsworth changed the way we see the world.

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