Many things to many people. A place with a history as rugged and brave as
its landscape. Bhutan is a storied place where myth and legend endure.
Graced with a population who are, as one Bhutanese friend shared,
“weather beaten.” To this I add, they are simply kind, unpretentious and
faithful to the divine which holds sway in a mountainous landscape that is
braided with hidden treasures.

To experience the ten hour’ish’ drive from the capitol City of Thimphu to the
Central District of Bumthang with restless eyes, one can only imagine the
feast of living mysteries beneath the seemingly impenetrable forests and
jungle. So much is shielded, so much yet to be discovered. Known in the
past as the ‘medicine land’ or place where there is medicine. Indeed, in a
world craving to be healed from one form of suffering or another, the
landscape of Bhutan throbs with unseen possibilities.

Not all that is worth having is tangible. Not all tangible things can be
possessed. What the eyes see in a vertical landscape goes up but also
merges below in a river rushing towards the sea. Imagine being a drop of
water falling from a cloud above a lofty peak. You fall into the river joining
all other drops of water. Off you go, jumbling and tumbling through a rocky
and roiling landscape passing down mountain through mysterious places
where secrets have yet to be revealed.

The landscape of Bhutan is a sacrament, a truth telling, a billion years of
revealing witness. Onto this landscape came saints and sages who left
their hand, foot, and body imprints. The natural world always a vehicle onto
which the unseen could reveal its presence for sentient beings. A land of
reminders that there is so much more than what meets the eye.

Anything, everything, virtually all things made from, with, or in the embrace
of the sacrament of land, water, mineral, earth, elements, and air that is
Bhutan are imbued with intangible blessings. It’s the mystery that our
degenerate age asks us to step into. A place of intuition, trust, and knowing
that we are not alone. The treasure revealers have returned with gifts that
are not seen with the outward eye, but within the realms of intuition and
instinct that perceive through knowing exclusive to one’s relationship with
the earth and its most primal elements.

Author - Kathleen Kiefer