Wild errain and the Spiritual Life Megan Napier

Within this section of The Solace of Fierce Landscapes, I found this statement that got me wondering, "Mountain and desert territory connects people symbolically, if not literally, to places of ascent. They remind them of things they would rather forget, taking them to edges from which the human psyche normally recoils." This for me is extremely true. As I said before I have never been to a desert, but I did live in the mountains for two years. I use to walk in around Radford, Va, and I would go to one particular site that would over look the city. There I would go to relax but looking off over the mountain would start getting my mind to go in directions I didn't want it to go in. I am afraid of heights so I would think about if i slipped that I would fall. So I would step back for a minute, then get my courage and sit back down. The thought of being so high and on this huge mountain scared me, but it was a place I could retreat to, to get my head cleared. The massiveness of the mountain just made me feel tiny and it was hard to concentrate on anything other than that.