Nature

Terrestrial hot spring
Early evolution
Exterior analogue

Because of numerous active hydrothermal features, Yellowstone is especially magnificent during the cold of winter. Certain heat loving microorganism species reside in these hydrothermal ecosystems and often appear as masses of color. That thermophiles can thrive in such conditions, including alkaline or acidic water of near-boiling temperatures, is extreme only in relation to human requirements.

“At the time when liquid water—a prerequisite for life as we know it—appears in the geological record (3800 billion years ago), Earth was a hot, anoxic environment and under constant bombardment by meteors, many of which could have virtually vaporized the oceans. Early Earth, therefore, would have been an attractive home to heat-loving thermophiles and their extreme cousins, the hyperthermophiles, where thermophily would have offered a great selective advantage.” – Anna-Louise Reysenbach

Delicate hues
Natural habitat
Nicely obvious

The subtle hue variations of the grayish western winter landscape are inexhaustibly satisfying in their infinite richness. With experience dependent upon individual interpretation, imbued through all things conveying themselves willingly, the earth does not withhold.

“Winter is a time of greyness and cold. When it shows, there is stillness and calm that often prompts us to speak in a whisper.” – Sandy Dumont

Textured variability
Vertical crests
Intervening furrows

Dominating the Cherry Springs Nature Area south of Pocatello, this trunk is part of the largest and most interesting tree in the Mink Creek Valley. Paranormal researchers are not sure why so much ghostly activity runs rampant here. Reportedly it is typical for visitors to feel like they’re being watched by a spiritual aura.

“The whole area is full of presence. There’s many things going on there.” – Colleen O’Hara-Epperly

Mystical grace
Potential manifold
Enduring indivisibly

Invoking the irreducible value of being, nature provides a psychological experience of apprehending on a deeper level than that of consciousness.

“Beauty is a form of Genius–is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in the dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has divine right of sovereignty.” – Oscar Wilde

Universal sense
Reconciling itself
Internal coherence

Accustomed to accepting changes with eyes focused on land and sky, a long autumn walk proceeds in vigorous anonymity. Remembering that mental symbols do not reflect or correspond to the immense complexity of the referent, bright trees stand tall.

“Whenever we have any experience which might be called ‘aesthetic,’ that is whenever we are enjoying, contemplating, admiring or appreciating an object, there are plainly different parts of the situation on which emphasis can be laid.” – C. K. Ogden

Completely changed
Material constituents
Rearranging themselves

The present is always a brief window of opportunity blending into an evolving creative future. Situated in time, the surrounding space of experience grows expansively vast.

“Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzu

Physical parallelism
Determining conditions
Correspondence states

The enigmatic cognitive relationship between reason and feeling manifests in the presence of beauty, while the essence of the beautiful itself remains inexplicable. In aesthetic observation, nature may be considered as an artist in its own way.

“Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Spatial positions
Temporal periods
Apparent events

Early morning light shines on seasonal change, intensifying the transcendence of time beyond substance that nevertheless affects nature. Some spatial positions repeatedly capture attention and help to determine the character of apparent quintessence.

“In sense-perception nature is disclosed as a complex of entities whose mutual relations are expressible in thought without reference to mind, that is, without reference either to sense-awareness or to thought.” – Alfred North Whitehead

Common point
Extend diverge
Propagate out

Nature often seems to demonstrate effortless mathematical representations of symmetry laws. Physically forming a pattern as lines drawn from the interior to various points on the perimeter, this plant well complements the intense summer sunshine.

“When one pauses to consider the elegance and the beautiful perfection of the mathematical reasoning involved and contrast it with the complex and far-reaching physical consequences, a deep sense of respect for the power of the symmetry laws never fails to develop.” – Chen Ning Yang

Self-reliant
Species concept
Environmental adaptation

Vegetation distinctions are part of what makes travel to exotic localities appealing. Each destination has its own exclusive essence and atmosphere, including the quality of the ambient light.

“We first make our habits, then our habits make us.” – John Dryden