SpirituallyFit.com - More about the authors

More about the authors

JIM WHITTAKER: The desire to feature Jim Whittaker on our webzine began before reading A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond. A Life on the Edge left me feeling even more impressed and amazed by Whittaker's accomplishments, but, not so much because he was the first American to climb Mt. Everest but, mostly because of the climb of his life so openly shared in his inspiring book.

My most lasting impression came from our initial discussion about featuring him on our site. Anxiety was building after several failed attempts to reach Jim then the moment just before our first conversation I had a brief panic attack thinking, "this man has climbed mountains with the Kennedys, has survived major physical, emotional and professional feats--what am I going to say?". I feared I would stammer and stutter the first words out of my mouth. But, Jim was nothing but kind, humble and supportive and he put me at ease upon uttering his first "hello". Jim appreciated that the spiritual aspects of his book and his life would be highlighted on SpirituallyFit.com and, we appreciate the inspiration and encouragement his life story imparts in A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond.

Thank you Jim Whittaker for blessing this 2002 issue with greatness and humility.

GLENN WILLIAMS: Welcome back Glenn and thank you Glenn for submitting your Glacier Peak Expedition.

For Glenn Williams, the extreme endurance of spending a month or so alone atop a major Pacific Northwest volcano, denotes much more than a physical feat: it represents a triumph of the spirit. Williams describes himself as "the stereotype 98 pound weakling, the very picture of an undersized, non-athletic kid." In his late teens he was diagnosed with a number of serious congenital conditions in his neck, spine, and hips. Told by doctors that he might be in a wheelchair within a few years, he soon took up hiking, then climbing, and an obsession was born. Having lived with constant pain from an early age, today, he feels best when photographing from a mountaintop with a tent nearby, “playing it with no safety net.“ Resigned to the idea that his climbing days are now on the wane, he says with no hint of regret, “I’ll only need my body for another twenty to thirty years, anyway. Why not push toward life?”

"Spending an extended amount of time atop a mountain - a volcano to be more specific - always leaves me with an absolute profound sense of wonder. It is only when you have time to completely still your internal dialogue that you can really hear the mountain ‘talk.’ The creaking of a glacier beneath your tent, the vibration of an avalanche in the night after a heavy snowfall; the moan of wind over a summit glacier, a pebble breaking loose and skittering down a slope . . . this is all part of the Mountain Song!”

DAVID POND: We welcome astrologer, David Pond, to SpirituallyFit.com and treating us to his intriguing article!

"The article "The Sun In Relationships" refers to astrology. It is suitable for all levels and you do not need to know your birth chart to benefit from the article. Everyone knows their Sun Sign. When someone asks you at the party "What is your sign?" your answer is your Sun sign. You can read about your needs, skills and challenges in relationships and you can read about the important people in your life to better understand them. Much of the information comes from my new book, Astrology and Relationships.

This article covers the Sun Sign only, but all of the other planets are important in relationships as well, and the book covers all the planets in their impact on your relationships. There are tables in the back of the book for looking up the signs that each of the planets for you and the people in your life."

PATRICK LOAFMAN: Patrick speaks on his short prose pieces from his manuscript, "In Defense of Greys":

"A Bend in the River" was written at a secrete spot of mine, about
fourteen miles up the Bogachiel River, Olympic National Park. It is a prose poem, meaning it should read like a poem, but it is not put into a poem's shape (lines and stanzas). This poem should show Nature as a healer, or as a part of the healing process. I believe we all form "internal maps" where our lives are displayed and events that happened thirty years ago are beside things that happened yesterday and are connected in unique ways.

"Lessons of a Heron" is a love song for the great blue heron. As a
herpetologist, I admire the heron's ability to catch frogs, and see the heron as a partner in that way.

"Desert Journal" is published by Lone Willow Press and "Songs of the Winter Wren" was self-published.

CHRISTOPHER FOSTER: Thank you for your excerpt and poetry Christopher!

"If you are like me, you long for more peace and joy in life, a sense of being one with the universe rather than an isolated human entity, constantly under threat from hostile sources.

I wrote my fable, The Raven Who Spoke With God, as a way to share this longing for oneness that I feel is at the heart of all creation. More importantly, I sought to portray through allegory the manner in which this urge may be fulfilled. In these perilous times especially, we will not find our way home without listening very keenly indeed to the voice of wisdom that speaks to us from the silences of our own being. This kind of listening, in my view, is at the core of true spiritual fitness, and it requires being vigilant all the time.

Needless to say, if we do this kind of listening, and find the fulfillment that is our birthright, then it will bless the natural world too. Nature depends upon us more than we may think.

Joshua, the hero of my raven story, is a vulnerable, sensitive, passionate young raven, but he is more than that. he represents to me the brave, steadfast spirit that dwells in each one of us, longing to be free and to help birth a new world of beauty and joy and peace.

There is a wonderful myth in the Haida culture of the Northwest that tells how Raven brought life to the land after the flood--in the form of several human beings in a clam shell. We all are charged with the sacred mission of bringing more life on earth. To this end, I would be delighted to hear from any readers or visitors to this site, and to dialogue with you are much as time allows."

ELEANORA SCARPETTA: In New Beginnings with Fresh Foods & Exercise our fun, delightful, Italian culinary mistress reminds us to exercise and eat fresh foods to be healthy, happy and fit in the New Year and always, We also bring you more recipes from her web site, http://www.eleanoraskitchen.com. Thank you again Eleanora for submitting your story and sharing your recipes!

KATE REAVEY: Refugia (for Tim) is a simple poem about noticing the extraordinary in the ordinary after that tragic day on the September 11th, 2001. Welcome back Kate!

MARY MORGAN: Mary shares a sweet poem and prayer in Since September 11. Welcome back Mary!

CHARD CHENIER: We welcome Canadian artist, Chard Chenier, to SpirituallyFit.com! His work is on our Featured Art page.

"I was born in 1947 in a French-Canadian community in St-Boniface, Manitoba, a prairie town beside the Red River. There I learned honesty, sincerity and a good sense of humour. My parents had survived the depression. They both came from large poor French Canadian families. Their background, unfortunately, did not prepare them for a son with artistic tendencies.

They sent me to a school run by Marianists, a male religious order devoted to the Virgin Mary and education. They wore black suits with white shirts and black ties. I sketched constellations on my scribblers and the Brothers often complained my head was in the stars (dans les étoiles). Forty years later, I paint the evolution of these designs on canvas. The prairie sky's star-studded vastness and astounding sunsets are my major influence in my work-as well as the richly colored rituals of the Roman Catholic masses. Eskimo and Indian art, also, influenced, not only my life, but the way I express our interconnectedness with the cosmos.

I hope my paintings point humanity towards creating a moral universe--what Albert Einstein believed to be humanity's greatest challenge.

My art is often described as "cosmological". The stars wink back back knowing that all I do is paint the human heart as best I can."

PATTIANN ROGERS: Pattiann gives us hope in Into the Light. Thank you Pattiann for being part of our webzine the last three years!

DEEPAK CHOPRA: "The Law of Giving" from the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success confirms what many of us have felt through the compassion and outreach many of us have given in response to the needs of our families and neighbors touched by our nation's tragedies. Thank you Deepak for your continued support of our webzine.