A Boy Who Memorised the Bible and Loved the Woods
John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland in 1838 and raised by a father so strictly religious that young John was required to memorise the entire New Testament and most of the Old by heart. The family emigrated to Wisconsin when Muir was eleven, and his father put him to work on the farm from dawn to dark.
But Muir kept slipping away to the woods. The prairies and lakes of Wisconsin called to him the way his father's sermons never did. He later wrote that his father's religion was all about fear and punishment, while the natural world spoke of something entirely different — generosity, beauty, and an intelligence so vast it made him catch his breath.
The Walk That Changed Everything
In 1867, a factory accident nearly blinded Muir. When his sight returned, he decided he was done with indoor life. He walked from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico — a thousand miles through forests, swamps, and mountains — with nothing but a plant press and a journal.
That walk became the seedbed for everything that followed. Muir wrote that every tree was a sermon, every waterfall a hymn. He arrived in Yosemite Valley in 1868 and described the experience as standing in "the grandest of all the special temples of Nature."
A Theology Written in Stone and Water
Muir spent years living alone in Yosemite, sleeping under the stars, tracking glaciers, and writing about what he encountered. His theology was unconventional but deeply felt. He believed that the natural world was God's original scripture — older than any book, unedited, and freely available to anyone willing to pay attention.
"In every walk with nature," he wrote, "one receives far more than he seeks."
His advocacy led to the creation of Yosemite National Park and the founding of the Sierra Club. He convinced President Theodore Roosevelt to protect millions of acres of wilderness. All of it grew from a conviction that these places were sacred ground.
What This Means for You
You do not need to hike a thousand miles to sense what Muir was describing. Step outside. Look at a tree long enough to notice its details. Listen to water moving over stones. Muir's insight was not complicated: creation is trying to tell you something, and it has been speaking long before you arrived.