Walking in beauty is a Navaho term.
The way I understand it, it describes an awareness of the harmony inherent in creation. It’s doesn’t describe a specific landscape, but rather the mindset of the observer. When I walk in beauty, everything around me is in its proper place. If I perceive something as ugly or unharmonious, that means I am unaware of its connections; unaware of how it fits perfectly within its larger environment.
Even though walking in beauty is a concept, it is also a practice. As a concept, it describes a general idea. As a practice, it becomes a very concrete experience of aware presence in this moment, right now. It is a loving observation of each detail of life as it happens in front of me. Anything out of harmony is clearly due to my perception and requires inquiry into that. As I am contemplating the beauty around me, the gifts of the practice are joy and gratitude.
Walking In Beauty in my garden –
The purple of the flowers compliments the pink of the other flowers perfectly. Both colors are shining vividly against a backdrop of greens and browns. The morning sunlight brightens the colors just so.
Extending the awareness to a larger perimeter, the plants are strong and vibrant due to the rich earth of our garden, made of decomposing wood, dead plants, and worm castings. The spring rains have been plentiful. Rain belongs to the sky, and the sky opens up to the vastness of space. Winter is past, spring is moving onwards into summer. The seasons stop for no-one, supporting the circle of birth, lifespans, and death, the old making room for and feeding new forms of life. Contemplating my place within his tapestry of eternal creation, I feel very light. I have my place in it all – and my time. Its end is not far away; within the millennia of earthen years, human lives are hilariously short.
How much I strive every day to change just a little bit of that time into something different, or to live just a little happier tomorrow! Laughingly I can give myself a hug, and for this morning, drop the burdens.
All is well.
Within the larger perspective of this earth, I am but a speck. The harmony of life is obvious today. I am walking in beauty.
