Glimpses Beyond The Mirror Poems of Pilgrimage: Searching For What Lasts Past Today Nature and especially mountains are places of beauty and life - naturalist-writer John Muir knew them better than anyone because he constantly wandered there. Muir also knew how we humans forsake mountains, poetry, beauty, and truth, for things of lesser value. Today poems and pilgrimages can still illuminate what is real and what lies beyond. There is a spiritual dimension, and stepping into these verses can help reveal glimpses of that reality. Humans have always longed for what is true and long-lasting, and even what is heart-breaking or terrifying; for centuries these are the reasons people have been going on pilgrimages. They are a way for each of us to learn (again and again) about the world and about ourselves. These verses spring from different times of wonder, travel, grace, regrets, or rejoicing which transcend the daily grind-illumination from an alpine peak, from childbirth, or even the afterlife. There is more in our imaginations than we can hardly conceive. There are places and vistas that can only be reached in this way.