As well as opening doors, the children made dens: the doors allowing access and adventures, the dens permitting retreat and shelter.*
Robert Macfarlane

Most of us then default to one of a handful of templates and filters for all their experiences; everything gets pulled inside what my little mind already agrees with.**
Richard Rohr

It seems that
the older we get
the more dens and fewer doors
populate our lives;
More of the familiar,
Less of the unfamiliar.
This need not be so – I hold on to the truth that
people are amazing, and
ought to know why –
This is both my joy and my work –
So we find our doorways and dens,
And begin moving between the two –
To leave the known for the wonder:
awe truly is all around us, if only we take the time to look,^
And to return into the secret place for reflection because we suspect,
the opposite of contemplation is not action – it is reaction^^.
So this movement to and fro creates
a larger story emerges,
A life continues to grow
amazingly.

*Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks;
**Richard Rohr’s The Divine Dance;
^Jonah Paquette’s Awestruck;
^^Richard Rohr’s Immortal Diamond.