Moments of Scenic Serenity

Sights that make the world pause

When I speak about scenic serenity, most often I’m speaking about vast vistas that beguile one’s senses with incomprehensible beauty and inspiration. For much of my life, I found it impossible to imbibe such scenes. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t contain them within myself. Finally, after living 15 years in Alaska and encountering vastness and beauty beyond my ability to express, I learned how to fully appreciate such moments of inexpressible calm.

I’ll tell you my secret in a moment.

First, I want to clarify that moments of scenic serenity do not always entail dramatic or expansive vistas. Sometimes, they’re revealed as scenery overlooked, as some minor little tableau or poignant setting, or even a city seen from a different point of view.

Ah yes, my little secret.

Like so many things in life — and almost everything in mine — the way to overcome a pesky obstacle lies in doing the exact opposite of what you’ve been trying to do without result.

One day, I was perched atop the Chugach Mountains in Alaska, staring at a scene so vast and beautiful I would do almost anything to contain it. I tried to absorb every detail — every ridge, valley, tree, lake, and river — within a scene of serenity no other human soul disrupted.

Frustration engulfed me, and I thought — I might as well jump into it instead.

In that instant, I knew the secret solution to my incapacity.

Instead of imbibing all I saw, I needed to project my self-awareness into the entire scene below. When I did that, I became the scenic serenity I observed.

A full appreciation for it was accompanied by full serenity for myself.

This secret came with me on all our travels.

This technique was best applied to large, expansive vistas devoid of human distractions. (Read: tourists and selfie-takers.) Projecting my self-awareness into these moments of vast scenic serenity provided my most intimate engagements with Planet Earth. I was left convinced that Earth is a living being, a great spirit, and the embodiment of everything meant by the term Gaia.

I may not love this world, but I do love our perfect Earth.

In that spirit, I want to share a few particular vistas that utterly subsumed me in perfect communion with our gorgeous planet.

In addition to such beautiful vistas, some scenes of serenity are comprised of less enduring moments — sometimes fleeting, sometimes human-made — where awareness must be alert to earn the great privilege of witnessing.

Such is the nature of these next few sharings.

Amazingly, sometimes I find that old artifacts provide the same scenic serenity suggested by the great vistas formed solely by Planet Earth.

These usually appear in natural settings because Nature so likes to reclaim her own.

In turn, she endows old relics with her naturally serene … nature.

As often happens in our stories, Steve’s photographs explain my notions far better than my words. Therefore, I’m going to finish this piece by presenting three superior examples of the scenic serenity I’ve tried so hard but unsuccessfully to describe.

Afterward, you may want to claim a moment for yourself.