New Drawings

Pico Blanco by Steven Harper (graphite on paper)

I have added a page to my art site, Bear Creek Studios, to include some of the many graphite on paper drawings I have in my sketch books. Both drawing and painting have been important ways for me to more deeply engage with the wild nature of Big Sur.
This view of Pico Blanco is looking north from the Golden Stairway (a ridge that runs up to Post Summit). Old-timers reportedly called it that, "because if you climb up there you'll find a bit of heaven." I tend to agree. Some accounts of the Esselen Indian's creation story has Pico Blanco as the center of creation... where everything came into being.
For more drawing and painting click here: Bear Creek Studios Big Sur

The Nature of Zen

For more photos of the retreat click here: Retreat Photos

"Our way is to practice one step at a time, one breath at a time, with no gaining idea."

Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

The first day of our retreat was HOT! As the days passed it grew cooler each day. We went out on walks each morning and returned to Tassajara for lunch each day. In the afternoons we had dharma discussions in the Kaisando (founders hall) with a short meditation period.
The incredible gift of the natural hot springs (the hottest in the mountain range) along with the delicious meals makes it a good place to "practice" waking up to our lives.
Deep Bow, Steven

"The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so."

Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

The Nature of Contemplation

For more photos click here: Workshop Photos

Con•temp•(l)atio(n)

First off, many thanks to you all for your leisurely presence and balanced walk between being and doing... heaven and earth... play and work... meaning and purpose... vision and action...
Second, thanks to Jud, Tanja, and Kai for their support in assisting through the weekend.
Third, gratefulness to wild-nature-as-teacher for the simple and wondrous gifts we experienced.
May we all walk the contemplative path toward greater aliveness...
Wildly, Steven

P.S. Mitch posted a slide show of the photos he took and is willing to send out a DVD to anyone that wants it! Click on this link for the slide show: http://surflounge.com/esalen/
You can email Mitch at: utopiaonthebeach@yahoo.com

Mountains and Waves: Wilderness & Continuum

Click here for more photos of our group: Workshop Photos

Each year for 22 years I have co-lead a workshop at Esalen with my sister Susan Harper (seated front 3rd from right). Each year it is such a gift to be able to work with her... this year was magical. I want to personally thank each of you for the manner in which you participated. We were blessed with so many special moments... sounding in the big redwood, condors out of the fog, deep dives into the inner world as somanauts, solstice ceremony made genuine... "Thank you for being here... Thank you for being here..."
Gratefully, Steven

Walk on the Wild Side: Hiking the Big Sur Country

photo by Danny Bianchetta
For more photos of our group click here: Workshop Photos

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

John Muir

A week filled with walking, silence, conversations, new friendships made, old friendships deepened and renewed. Walking with the words and inspiration of John Muir's life we stepped for a moment into wilderness for as Muir says, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul,"
We were touched by beauty, and certainly had chances to play and pray. I hope we were at least touched by some essential "seed" moments that will continue to grow and nourish our body and soul. With Gratitude... Steven

Wild Mind, Zen Mind: Tassajara Zen Center

At the Wind Caves near Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
For more photos of the three-day retreat click here: Workshop Photos

The retreat simply offered the finest of Tassajara— Buddhist practice, wilderness walks, wonderful meals, hot springs, and silence. We explored Zen practice and the natural beauty of Tassajara through daily meditation, group discussions, and day hikes on wilderness trails. We were blessed by near perfect weather and only a few bugs. During one of the talks Leslie told a version of this Zen story...

Is That So?

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parents went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.
After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed.
A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth—that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?’

From: Zen Flesh, Zen Bones compiled by Paul Reps

Simply Wild in Big Sur

With wild nature as our primary teacher we went simply and wildly...
I am certain that the weekend was much longer than a weekend. From our sensory walk with eyes closed to the smells of the many herbs; from butterflies to four-leaved sorrel... we had many magical moments. It was a good reminder for me to remember the importance in creating and appreciating the simple moments of life. May a little bit of wildness make its way into each of our daily lives. Two claps one bow... Steven. For more photos click here: Workshop Photos

Here is the poem that I read and used to begin the workshop description.

The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver (from New and Selected Works)

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
in the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?


For the original workshop description click here: Simply Wild: Experiencing Nature

Big Sur Wilderness Experience: Springtime

What a week of walks... Such a variety of wild flowers and experiences. From our journey to the "springs" to the condor we were blessed with many moments of magic. I have posted photos and will add others as I can. Click here to take you to the photos: Workshop Photo Gallery. In the meantime, here is the poem I read the last evening. I wish you all an easy transition into your "other" lives... remembering you may come back again saying, "Here." May we all integrate the richness of what we were gifted into our daily lives. May we recognize the moments we are lost and have the wisdom to "stand still."
Gratefully,
Steven

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have make this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

David Wagoner
1976

The Art of Pilgrimage: Notes

Click on this link to see more photos of the retreat: The Art of Pilgrimage

pil•grim•age
a journey to a place associated with someone or something well known or respected

At the beginning of our retreat I gave a short talk about what pilgrimage has been and is for many cultures and religions. I was asked by the group to share in written word some of what I spoke about on Saturday morning. The following is loosely drawn from my notes.

I have a long standing fascinated by practices and rituals that occur in many cultures. When practices occur across culture boundaries they perhaps speak to the larger human condition and are greater than the culture itself. It is interesting to me that most religious traditions have some form(s) of pilgrimage.

As a general statement, we contemporary westerners living in the United States don’t have a great deal of pilgrimages that emphasize our relationship to our spiritual journey. This opens the question of how we might create and participate in the practice of pilgrimage in a manner that is both skillful and has meaning. Most forms of pilgrimage that I have studied share these characteristics and outcomes:

• A physical journey through time and space
• Leaving home (leaving what is known)
• Simple lifestyle during pilgrimage: e.g. simple clothes are worn that do not reflect status, simple diet, etc.
• Special rituals and/or prayers that marks significant milestones along the journey
• Circumambulation: moving around a sacred temple, object, mountain, and the like
• Pilgrims return with objects (water, statues, talismans) and/or special knowledge from a sacred site
• Pilgrims return with something for the community, family, as well as self
• Emphasize the journey itself as much as or equal to the goal
• Emphasize the merging of inner and outer (e.g. climbing the Mt Fuji inside as I am climbing the physical Mt. Fuji)
• Encourage a relationship to geographical place
• Timed with the seasons, sun and moon cycles, or some other natural rhythm

Usually pilgrimage is never just one of these things, but a constellation of many things and experiences woven together to create the whole pilgrimage. With this background knowledge it is now important that we drop our ideas about what pilgrimage is or might be as we step on the path of pilgrimage. In each step, perhaps, we have the opportunity to discover what pilgrimage is.

Here's the Zen story from the Book of Serenity:
Zen Teacher Earth Treasury asked the monk Dharma Eye as he was leaving the monastery, "Where are you going?"
Dharma Eye said, "I'm going on pilgrimage."
Earth Treasury asked, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Dharma Eye said, "I don't know."
Earth Treasury said, "Not knowing is most intimate."
Dharma Eye was greatly awakened at these words.

The Art of Pilgrimage

The Art of Pilgrimage
Originally uploaded by surharper.

On Saturday April 21st a group of 20 of us gathered at Green Gulch Zen Center to sit and walk together on a pilgrimage into the Marin hills. We started the day in the Green Gulch Library to introduce ourselves and meditated together. We then started out on a pilgrimage climbing Coyote Ridge to the south of Green Gulch. We had incredible wild flowers, birds, and silence along the way. At the top we enjoyed the diverse views that range from ocean to urban to wild and stood in the middle of this beauty. After lunch we worked our way down to the coast trail and headed north to Muir Beach. A gentle rain joined us for the last part of the day. Hot tea at Green Gulch warmed the body and tasted great. As we returned from out circumambulation of the Marin Hills the words of TS Elliot rang true.
"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
Deep Bow to all of you that chose to show up!
Gratefully,
Steven
If you click on the photo it will link you to more photos of our pilgrimage

iThou.org

There is an internet community called iThou that I have been participating in that you might find interesting. Those of you that have taken workshops at Esalen will find aspects of the site familiar. The site was started by a man that worked for 5 years at Esalen and bases his creation of the site in part on replicating parts of the Esalen experience in this internet community. Here is a quote from the Esalen group on the site:

“Greetings. Welcome to the group, "Esalen" -- for people who have lived, worked, and/or studied at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.

For many of us who lived there, the time was rich, full, and extraordinary. For all people who have been touched by the spirit of the place, it is sometimes challenging to keep that spirit alive in the world outside the support of the container of Big Sur and Esalen.

This place is intended to become that supportive ground for people who have been moved by the spirit of the place, but who no longer, possibly, have immediate access to the special and sacred space of Esalen.

Everyone who has been moved by the spirit of Esalen, I believe, becomes, in their own way, an ambassador for a new way of thinking, feeling, and being in the world. May we carry on the torch and help bring truth, authenticity, love, and light for now and future generations.”

At the end of a workshop a common desire for many participants is having a way to stay connected both to the people in the group and the experience. While it is clearly not the same as a workshop experience there is a genuine attempt at creating aspects of the “Esalen experience” in a web community. The site could be good for supporting integration of what you learned in a retreat setting like Esalen into your daily life at home. Check it out, it’s free, and unlike Esalen it is not by reservation only. Click here to visit: iThou

The Art of Pilgrimage Retreat

An invitation for anyone in the extended San Francisco Bay Area (or further away) to come join us for a day at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center.

The Art of Pilgrimage: Walking the Wild Path
with Steven Harper and Luminous Owl
April 21
Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Most of the world’s spiritual traditions include some form of pilgrimage. Although not often taught in the West, Buddhism also has many forms of pilgrimage. This retreat will be a contemporary pilgrimage, exploring the ancient art of walking. While pilgrimage is often from one place to another, we will end at the very place we begin, celebrating the sacred aspect of the journey itself. We will begin at Green Gulch with an introduction to the basic principles of sitting (zazen) and walking practice (kinhin). Much of the day will be spent mindfully wandering trails in the wilds of Marin, moving between silence, instruction, and informal discussion. This is a contemplative journey where each step is the goal. Please bring a bag lunch. Further information will be sent upon registration. $45, $40 members, $35 limited income.
Here is a link to the Art of Pilgrimage at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center.

Esalen Hot Springs

Esalen Hot Springs
Originally uploaded by surharper.

I thought I would post a reminder of the "Baths" at Esalen for all those that have enjoyed the healing warmth of the natrural hot springs that bubble up from deep in the earth. Historically known as "Slates Hot Springs" after Thomas Benton Slate, they have been and are a blessing to all the hikers that have returned from a day out in the wilds to being greeted and held by these waters. Gratitude to the gift of the earth...
Click on the photo for a larger version.

Wave: oil on canvas 48"x48"

I have a new website that has some of my paintings. It is exciting for me to make my art work more public. I hope you enjoy...
There is a link in the right side-bar, "Art by Steven Harper" or you can go to
www.bearcreekstudiosbigsur.com

Dick Price co-founder of Esalen Institute

Dick Price co-founder of Esalen Institute.jpg
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Richard Price co-founder with Michael Murphy of the Esalen Institute. This is a graphite on paper sketch by me, Steven Harper, of Dick from a Joyce Lyke photo. Dick loved to hike and explore the inner and outer reaches of wilderness. He was a gifted practitioner of what he called Gestalt Practice, a one-of-a-kind human being, and a great friend. When I did a recent search of the internet and found few images of him, I decided maybe it was time to change that... although I imagine Dick would have been please to have no images of himself on the internet as he liked to keep a low profile.

Holiday Greetings

Holiday Greetings
Originally uploaded by surharper.

With heartfelt appreciation and gratitude we send our wishes of peace and happiness. May the coming year bring you the very best of your heart’s deepest desires. May we all know the dance of spirit in every breath.

with love,
Kes, Kai, Janna & Steven

Mary Goldenson and Steven Harper at Esalen Institute

Mary and Steve
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Mary and Steve at Esalen Institute. Mary and I lead a workshop each year at Esalen titled the Nature of Intimacy and the Intimacy of Nature. She is author of the book "Its Time."
For more information about workshop we do together titled The Nature of Intimacy and the Intimacy of Nature click here:
Workshop Calendar

Brother David Steidl-Rast

Bro. David Steindl-Rast (right) and Steven Harper at Esalen Institute
Check out "Light a Candle"... see the link in right-hand side bar. It is part of Bro. David's website gratefulness.org. I have co-led many workshops with Bro. David at Esalen over the years.
Go ahead... light a candle
Peace

Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Giving thanks for the creative and imaginal forces of human nature. Gratefully,
Steve

Nature of Intimacy: Big Sur

Nature of Intimacy: Big Sur
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Playing big and going deep on the intimate edge in Big Sur. Sponge-like and awake while doing the hokey pokey, I am sure you can still hear Mary saying, "Don't go back to sleep, don't go back to sleep." I sincerely hope each of us are able to take some essential seeds from our time together and grow them to fruition. May you alway choose the path of aliveness.
Gratefully, Steve

Esalen Office Goes Wild

Esalen Office Goes Wild
Originally uploaded by surharper.

The Esalen Office Crew escaped the office for the wilds of Big Sur. We visitied Big Creek for a Natural and Cultural History of Big Sur 101 course. From the history of the native peoples to the early settlers, from geology to ecology we covered a little about a lot of things. What a blessing to live in such beauty. Many thanks to the Esalen office crew for the daily work they do.
Steve

Envisioning Our Lives @-Big Creek

Envisioning Our Lives @-Big Creek
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Merle sent me some photos off our group that I have added. If you click on this photo it will take you to my Flickr photo site. Click on "surharper" and you can see the various photos from Envisioning Our Lives and other workshops.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
- Rumi Open Secret

Envisioning Our Lives: In Living Color

Envisioning Our Lives: In Living Color
Originally uploaded by surharper.

From: WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN WAKING by David Whyte

"What you can plan is too small for you to live.

What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough for the vitality hidden in your sleep.

To be human is to become visible while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.

To remember the other world in this world is to live in your true inheritance."


Please let me know how the Big Workshop is unfolding.
Love to all,
Steve

Envisioning Our Lives

Envisioning Our Lives
Originally uploaded by surharper.

You must learn one thing,
the world was made to be free in.
Give up all other worlds
except the one to which you belong...
- David Whyte

What a week! So much collective wisdom, so many gifts, so rich the experience. Thanks to you all.
Wildly, Steve

Simply Wild at Esalen Institute, Big Sur

Simply Wild at Esalen Institute, Big Sur
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to life
we have refused
again and again
until now. Until now.

- David Whyte
“Enough” Where Many Rivers Meet

Our "Simply Wild" group on the last day at Julia Pfeiffer-Burns State Park. Perfect weather at Big Creek, a cold swim, wild turkey feathers, stories about living and "dead" redwoods, Esselen Indians, birthday wishes, hot springs, whales off the coast, bare attention, being idle and blessed, silence, heartfelt talks, open to the unfolding of each moment. Thanks to all for you participation, for doing the "hokey pokey" and putting your whole self in!
Click on the photo to see more group photos from the hike.

BSWE on the Interpretive Trail

BSWE-on-the-Interpretive-Trail
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Here we are among the redwoods on the Interpretive Trail in Big Creek Reserve. I so appreciated how easily we came together during the week. The human element of the workshop was as powerful as the wilderness element. It is always fun to see how each group comes together and who we choose to be. We let ourselves be touched by each other and by the natural wild beauty of Big Sur.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
- Rumi Open Secret

Big Sur Wilderness Experience: lunch @ the beach

Big Sur Wilderness Experience: lunch @ the beach
Originally uploaded by surharper.

"Why run around sprinkling holy water?
There's an ocean inside you, and when
You are ready you'll drink."
- Rumi

Thanks to everyone for a great workshop. I will post more photos when I return to Big Sur. With deep gratitude... Steve

Nature of Zen at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

Nature of Zen at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Awakened with the sweat of the trail and the cold water of the creek crossings, here we are at the Suzuki Memorial site at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Thanks to all… the hot springs, the zendo, the kaisando, the wild-do, that provided such great environments for us to be students. I appreciated the wonderful opportunity for such quality dialogues with excellent food in the company of good friends.

Mountains and Waves Inside

Mountains and Waves Inside
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Here is a poem that Susan shared with me and I would like to share with you.

Emerald Green Good Luck

In the extraordinary beauty of the Big Sur backcountry,
with a simple awareness invitation
to open my sense perceptions...

I turn a corner
on the snaking path
through the rustling of dry grasses
eyes receiving a field
of small poppies, bright
golden as the sun
with their orange laps
alive with bees.
My breath catches,
the brilliance of their sheer existence
brings me to my knees.
I am drenched in beauty,
teary, tender and alive.

Driving back into the very busy freeways of LA,
I dream of all-night, mountain-top vision quests,
Buddha sitting with the Bodhi tree,
and Jesus in the desert for forty days and forty nights.
How can I stay with such raw naked openness here?
I remind myself that the five elements are everywhere
even in LA.

And yet I miss the simple pure vitality
of the wilderness.
Inside me I carry so many impressions --
the chaos of growth and decay of the forest floor,

the bright emerald green good luck
of the redwood sorrel that line the path...

The sense of silent time
being inside
a 'blackened from fire'
hole in the core
of a 2000 year old redwood tree,
the fertile, dark oily shell mound soil
left by 6000 years of the ancient Esalen Indians,
and the sound of the hawks and jays
and all the birds whose names I do not know
announcing our arrival and departure.

The eyes of mountain lions that I do not see
lift the still dark hairs on the nape of my neck.
Offering awareness to the forest
each footprint full of blessing
I feel all the ways that the forest senses us as we walk.

Susan Harper June 24, 2006

Mountains-and-Waves

Mountains-and-Waves
Originally uploaded by surharper.

Here we are all wild and fresh and feeling our feet on the ground in Big Creek. I will post more group/workshop photos when I return home. In the meantime I hope your transition into the "Big Workshop" is going gracefully. A reminder to evoke and invite your qualities...
with deep gratitude to everyone,
Steve
P.S.
Here is the quote that many of you asked for:
Bro. David's response in conversation with Steve Harper about the word “spirituality”...
“the word "spiritual comes from the Latin word "spiritus" which means "life breath" (living things are alive as long as they breathe). So I take "spirituality" as referring not to a particular department of life, but to a quality of every department, a heightened aliveness. Spirituality is "super-aliveness." This implies that we are "spiritual" to the extent to which we are truly alive. To be truly spiritual means to be alive in every aspect. It's a matter of degree, and there's no upper limit to its intensity.”