> I think there is some kind of truth in the way many hikers and meditators want to keep those things "sacred" in some way, regardless of what religious or roma

> I think there is some kind of truth in the way many hikers and meditators want to keep those things "sacred" in some way, regardless of what religious or romantic theoretical framework they use to justify that. If you try to use nature, or meditation, to alleviate the stress from your life, in an instrumental way full of expectations, I can easily see it gradually losing its efficacy, if it becomes yet another maintenance strategy and you lose the sense of noninstrumentality, free exploration, suspension of ordinary pursuits, etc. There's a book by Chögyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, that has a lot to say on this theme. I have mixed feelings about the book overall, but it's quite relevant to this concept.