On a Walk Of Faith Local Group Spirit in Nature Takes a Hike

Author: Kelsey Rinehart

"What would you find if you took the rutted dirt road up the mountain?" asks Lynne Howard in an essay entitled "SPiNning." For her part, when she took a left-hand turn on Route 125 East at a small black and white sign, Howard discovered Spirit in Nature (SPiN) at the end of the road.

SPiN is a non-profit organization founded in 1998 by Vermont environmentalists that describes itself as "a place of interconnecting paths where people of diverse spiritual traditions may walk, worship, meet, meditate and promote education and action toward better stewardship of this sacred earth."

Spirit in Nature is a growing organization that now includes over 250 general members. SPiN has a board of trustees, headed by President and local Unitarian Universalist minister Paul Bortz, which includes seniors Leah Koenig, Lila Buckley, Connie Hansen and Kelly Feeney as student trustees. Koenig and a few classmates created a publication that included, she recalled, "essays, photography, artwork and poetry related to humans' spiritual connection to the environment," which SPiN then circulated.

Bortz later asked Koenig to be a liaison to Middlebury's campus. "Spirit in Nature considers itself to be integrally tied to the Middlebury College community and always has student representatives on its committee," Koenig said. She commented that one of SPiN's ongoing goals is simply to spread the word about its outdoor trails and to "develop the relationship between SPiN as an organization and the campus."

Buckley, another student trustee who has been involved with SPiN for three years, echoed similar sentiments about the importance of SPiN on the Middlebury campus. "SPiN helps the school become less insular and interact with the Vermont ommunity. Our work in the environment is crucial in that we bring a message of spiritual interconnectedness and stewardship towards Earth." She also points out the SPiN paths are located on Middlebury College land, and that the group will take advantage of such proximity this year by leading student hikes and nature walks, as part of SPiN objective of drawing more student awareness and involvement in the organization.

SPiN's contacts and path guides hail from many different faith groups, including Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Pagan, Buddhist, Unitarian Universalist, Bahai and Friends (Quaker). SPiN's day-to-day mission is to encourage environmental awareness within the community by way of these traditional religions and to encourage "action based on spiritually-sensitive concern for the environment," as the SPiN Web site states.

SPiN's long-term goals are based on spreading the word on a larger scale. As part of this effort, "Spreading the Seeds" is a workshop that gives Spirit in Nature wheels, offering an example to communities in and around Vermont that are interested in developing a network of paths. SPiN hopes that these types of events will help the idea reach even further, prompting communities across North America to start interfaith environmental organizations and path networks of their own. The organization hopes that this transmission of the SPiN model would empower the religious communities in their response to the current environmental crisis.

At SPiN, visitors can participate in "Arts and the Environment" activities, which encourage expression of the union between faith and nature. Though visitors may explore on their own, SPiN staff also lead youngsters and other community members on guided walks. Visitors can venture down ten different paths, which are marked with bright strips of nylon. The paths include Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Pagan Sacred Earth and Interfaith walks. At the entrance to each path, a small pedestal greets the traveler, reminding him, "Walking meditation is really to enjoy the walking - walking not in order to arrive, but just to walk."

The organization holds events throughout the year, such as the "Winter Soup and Bread Series," which includes informal lectures and discussions featuring community religious leaders, authors and environmentalists. In the fall, SPiN offers annual courses based on the theme of "Neighborhood and Sustainable Living." Recent topics addressed have been "Sense of Place" and "Voluntary Simplicity," among others. Also in the fall is SPiN's "service action of unique goods and services," which, its Web site says, is an "environmentally sound, non-material way of fundraising" in which service items are tax-free contributions. The auction supports SPiN's environmental stewardship efforts.

Spirit in Nature also bestows an annual Eco-Spirit Award, which "honors outstanding persons of faith who are making a difference to the environment." Past award recipients have included Scholar- in-Residence in Environmental Studies Bill McKibben in 2001 and Stewart Professor of English and Environmental Studies John Elder in 2002.

Along the Unitarian Universalist path is a quotation by Pierre Van Passen, which reads, "Half of our misery and weakness comes from the fact that we have broken with the soil. And that we have allowed the roots that bound us to the earth to rot. We have become detached from the earth. We have abandoned her. And, when we abandon nature, we abandon ourselves."

This statement embodies SPiN's essence, stated on its Web site as a "committ[ment] to experiencing nature and to education". "Ultimately," SPiN states, "we are committed to experiencing nature, and to education."