"Henry Valentine Miller," photographer, date unknown. Larger.
California has more than its share of places that inspire the imagination and lay claim upon the spirit, but none more so than the rugged country of Big Sur.
Writer and artist Henry Miller came to Big Sur in 1944, and it didn't take long before he felt moved by the spiritual rhythm of the place.
On rising I would go to the cabin door and, casting my eyes over the velvety, rolling hills, such a feeling of contentment, such a feeling of gratitude was mine that instinctively my hand went up in benediction. Blessing! Blessings on you, one and all! I blessed the trees, the birds, the dogs, the cats. I blessed the flowers, the pomegranates, the thorny cactus. I blessed men and women everywhere, no matter on which side of the fence they happened to be.
That is how I like to begin each day. A day well begun, I say. And that is why I choose to remain here, on the slopes of the Santa Lucia, where to give thanks to the Creator comes natural and easy. Out yonder they may curse, revile, and torture one another, defile all the human instincts, make a shambles of creation (if it were within their power), but here, no, here it is unthinkable, here there is abiding peace, the peace of God, and serene security created by a handful of good neighbors living at one with the creature world, with noble, ancient trees, scrub and sagebrush, wild lilacs and lovely lupine, with poppies and buzzards, eagles and hummingbirds, gophers and rattlesnakes, and sea and sky unending.
Henry Miller's Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch was published in 1957.
below to hear radio segment.
