Looking back on the experience, I realize that one of the things that touched me most about the experience was the natural beauty of the landscape. Since the festival was being held at a ski resort, there was a chair lift (the third longest in New Hampshire, I was told), and from that chair lift I had one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. Lest you should think I'm exaggerating, I offer as evidence of the place's beauty the fact that I have seen London from atop the London Eye (world's biggest ferris wheel) at twilight, and Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower at twilight. I have seen the magnificently kept gardens at Versailles, and its famed Hall of Mirrors. I've seen the Cliffs of Moher in Co. Galway, Ireland, and and fog rolling across the lush green mountains of Co. Cork, Ireland. I've seen the Adirondack Mountains in the Fall, and Newport in the mists of early Summer. Clearly, I do not lack for having seen beautiful places.
This, in turn, takes me back to the time some years ago when I was dabbling in Wicca and Neo-Paganism. Both of these Earth-based faiths hold the natural beauty of this world in the highest regard. They encourage their adherents to connect with nature spiritually, and that is a large part of what drew me to them. Now, there is nothing wrong with connecting to the Divine through nature, after all, God created this world to be a beautiful place (hence the fact that women are the pinnacle of creation :). The problem is with the theology, which embraces polytheism, and in some ways, pantheism and animism, along with other things which I don't have the time or space to delve into. However, I still admire the fact the Wiccans and Neo-Pagans can look at the created world and see the hand of God in it.
It is the Catholic teaching that each faith holds in it elements of Truth, and that which is good about each faith is reflective of God and His beauty and goodness. This reverence for creation is one of those elements of Truth in Earth-based faiths, and is also one that I think Christians are occasionally afraid to delve into for fear of coming off as Pagan. It is a folly, however, to think that. Reverence for what God has created is essential to being good stewards of what He has given us to care for, and to conflate admiration and appreciation for nature with worshipping it is foolish, at best.
I have come to this conclusion rather belatedly after having the sheer awesomeness and beauty of God reflected at me through His creation in New Hampshire. It blows my mind to think that the Author of all things, awesome and all-powerful, would have taken the time to look down at what would eventually become the small state of New Hampshire, and create in it a pristine oasis of evergreen-covered mountains and exquisitely blue lakes, knowing that one day people would enjoy it even a fraction as much as I did. One cannot help but wonder in those moments about the magnificence of the Creator who made such resplendent beauty not only to be gazed upon, but to serve the purpose of aiding in the survival of creatures.
I am truly never thankful enough to God for all the gifts He has given me, but this is one of those moments that makes up for that. I stumbled across the one photo I took of the view from the chair lift as my phone was dying, and it is an enduring reminder for me of how great God truly is. I hope that I will be able to make it back for at least one more Soulfest up there, but if not, I will always be able to cherish the gift of being able to go even once, and for being reminded that the radiant beauty of creation mirrors the divine beauty of God.
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