Now, sitting in his study, Pete recalled that walk in the gardens and the beauty and serenity he had experienced.

Walking around the pond, I saw fish of various sizes and colors swimming in the waters. Schools of tiny newborn were swimming around the lily pads, exploring the wonders of their small universe. Some were frolicking among the bubbles where the stream merged with the pond. Leaning over, I saw my reflection among the fish and the lily pads, with the clouds behind me, in the depths of the waters.

I strolled past terraced rows of pansies, tulips and hyacinths, showing off their brilliant colors. Interspersed between them, shaded lightly by blooming dogwoods and cherry trees, were plantings of azaleas, rhododendrons, mountain laurels and other shrubs that I did not recognize Here and there underneath the trees were benches and stools made from stumps. From wherever I sat was a magnificent view of the gardens and the horizon. All I had to do was open my eyes to the beauty surrounding me--and open my ears.

Water rushed out between the rocks, eager to greet streams downhill, perhaps even to meet Joe's brook, and thence, ultimately, the ocean. The melodies of these dancing waterways were music for my soul, while the resounding percussion of Joe's brook, though no longer in my ears, filled my mind.

A symphony resonated within me as my eyes beheld the beauty around me. I became aware of flow in the Universal Brook that stretches beyond the skies and across the galaxy. Ours is a galaxy among countless others, stretching far without an end--as a circle without a circumference.

I recalled Dad's words, ‘You do not need the senses to feel the power and magnificence of nature--it is within you, always.' Was he referring to intuition or to a sixth sense?

The beauty that I felt was inside my mind. My feelings transcended my senses. I did not need eyes to see, ears to hear, nose to smell, or skin to touch this beauty. For a brief moment, my mind dwelled upon the power that was the cause of this magnificence. Were I to dream of a wonderland, it could not be more serene than what I beheld.

As my eyes scanned the horizon, I felt as one with the soft, lazy clouds floating in the distance. I imagined seeing and feeling all that the clouds saw and felt.

I resolved to return one day to recapture this experience and record it in photograph and sketch. Yet, deep within I realized that no lens or camera, no palette or paint, could capture this feeling. Even John Constable's magnificent expressions in paint of 'the profane and the sublime' provide but a tiny clue--a mere link to the magic of the infinite combinations of beauty in nature.

On the way back to the house, I observed the expanse of glass spanning the height and width of the building. In the sunlight, it appeared as a giant mirror perched on the mountainside. Stepping onto the patio, I saw my reflection in the glass with the clouds floating in the clear blue sky behind me I saw a corner of the pond and part of the gardens.

My heart paced and my mind became still, wondering at the phantom scene before me. I was an insignificant part of the beauty of the image. If my reflection were removed, the beauty would remain--undisturbed, in perpetuity. I wondered. Is this image reality, and my self merely an actor in human form? Under this spell, my mind flowed back over the centuries to cave dwellers beholding their shadows on cavern walls Recalling Plato, I wondered, again.

Is this image a reflection of reality, and my mortal self but an illusion?

The image vanished, as I crossed the threshold and entered the house. Then, it reappeared. It had found a home in a long mirror behind a bar, capturing portions of the scene through the windows. Somehow, it had followed me into the room.

I shook it off again as I climbed a flight of stairs to a large room with a cathedral ceiling. One wall consisted of windows that framed a view across the valley to the distant mountains. It was the view that earlier I had seen reflected in these windows, only this time I no longer was in it. With a chill, I realized the scene was even more spectacular. I wondered.

Does nature need me, or do I need nature?