You Care About the Earth. So Why Do You Still Feel Disconnected From Her?
START HERE: What Where Insight Meets Earth is, who it is for, and where to begin.
Dear Reader,
If you love the Earth but lately feel more worry than wonder, you are in the right place.
Where Insight Meets Earth is a place to slow down, walk differently, and rediscover the sacred in the more-than-human world. It is rooted in ecospirituality, in walking as a spiritual practice, and in the thousand-year tradition of pilgrimage that the Camino de Santiago still carries. I have walked that path six times, mostly along the ancient Le Puy route through rural France, and I serve as a Chaplain at New York University. What I write here comes from those miles and that ministry.
You already know the Earth is more than a resource. What you may be missing is the felt experience of belonging to her, the kind that comes through walking, attention, and time. That is what we practice here, slowly. There are no ads and no algorithms. Just walking, writing, and the company of others asking the same questions you are.
What You Will Find Here
Two essays arrive each week, with shorter Notes between them, landing on a rhythm slow enough to actually settle in. The essays return again and again to a few well-worn paths:
Walking as Spiritual Practice, including contemplative walks that fit inside an ordinary day
Pilgrimage, drawn from the Camino and the long tradition it belongs to
Ecological grief and wonder, held together rather than kept apart
The sacred in ordinary places: a city park, two ravens, a discarded Christmas tree on a curb
Wherever you are on this path, whether you are full of wonder or weary with grief, you belong here.
Where to Begin
If you would like a feel for the work before you decide, choose the doorway that matches where you are right now:
If you are short on time and want a practice you can start today:
If you are carrying grief for the Earth and want it witnessed:
If you wonder what presence actually feels like in the body:
If you want the heart of why this work matters now:
A Little More About Me
I am Jeffrey. I serve as a Chaplain at New York University, where I also teach research methodology. I teach the Rewilding the Soul Ecospirituality Certificate at Cherry Hill Seminary and was ordained as a Wild Guide. I have walked the Camino de Santiago six times, and I guide small contemplative walking retreats along the Le Puy route in France.
I am still learning all of it. That is part of why I write.
Why Subscribe
If you love the Earth and want a quiet place to be in relationship with her rather than only worried about her, subscribing means these reflections land in your inbox before the noise of the day takes over.
Free subscribers receive every essay, full archive access, and the ability to join the conversation in the comments.
Paid annual subscribers also receive Pack Light, Walk Present: The Contemplative Camino Packing Guide, along with a Camino packing-and-planning conversation with me directly. Your support keeps this writing open and accessible to everyone, and I am genuinely grateful for it.
If any of this sounds like you, I would love to have you walk with us.
~ Jeffrey
Thank you, Jeffrey!