Alpine Ensemble with Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum), [ click photo for next . . . ]
above Hidden Lake II
Eagle Cap Wilderness . . .

A METAPHYSICAL MINIATURE

We shape the world and the world shapes us.

Some people make us smart;

Others, make us dumb.

Some people make us happy,

Others, make us sad.

If dialogue and compassion form two sides of the triangle
of friendship, or relationship, this might be then the third—
encouragement, or the sustained, mutual generation of the
energy that makes change, discovery, makes real creative
work possible.

Truly, this is how the world becomes a better place, one person,
one relationship, one friendship, at a time. Like Aristotle in Book IX
of his ETHICS has it, "friendship is a second self," a beautiful
expression, indeed. But in the current era of framentation, it
might also be said that friendship is in human terms, and in this
sense of dialogue, compassion and encouragement together
as necessary unity, the very essence of sustainability.