The humbling power of wilderness

Abstract

LET’S STIPULATE THAT RELIGIOUS EPIPHANY requires an understanding of one’s relationship to the divine … to the creator … to God. I would further submit that this understanding is fundamentally a matter of humility. Humility is the recognition that we are not masters of the universe—not even of our own little corners of it—and that we need something more than ourselves if we are to make sense of our lives. What Kennedy’s observation suggests is that this understanding—this humility—is best attained in wilderness.