In many faiths, there are places where it is believed that the physical and spiritual worlds overlap.

As I bumped along a dirt road toward a Tibetan temple just south of Crestone, Colo., that seemed like a reasonable proposition.

In the west, late afternoon sun stretched the shadows of the San Juan range across the broad, flat valley floor. To the east, the towering wall of stone known as the Sangre de Cristo mountains filled the car windows and a good deal of the sky above.

The golden light, the blue mountains, the 50-mile views – where could a soul find a better place to wrestle with the big questions of existence?

All along the road was evidence that many people see Crestone as an ideal venue for such grappling. I passed a Carmelite monastery, a Tibetan stupa, a Bhutanese Buddhist temple, a Hindu Ashram, a Japanese zen-do, and an outpost of the little-known Shumei sect.

A new Sedona?

I had come to Crestone because I’d heard it described as a “New Sedona,” a spot on the map where more and more people were looking for spiritual answers in a mind-blowing landscape.

I’ve got mixed feelings about the idea that travel to a specific spot can deliver divine sustenance, and I’m always dubious when one place is described as the “new” someplace else. Still, I was curious.

My first indication that the Sedona comparison was grossly inappropriate came at the Vajra Vidya  Center, where I met director Ani Seltong Drongma.

Vajra Vidya consists of a smallish, two-story stucco building that wouldn’t look out of place on the outskirts of Lhasa, Tibet. Seltong Drongma, a white woman in her 50s with sterling eyes, a gray crew cut and maroon robes, took me on a brief tour of the center’s Spartan accommodations. She grimaced when I brought up Sedona.

“I think there was more of a New Age element here a few years ago,” she said, “but it’s not easy to live here – there aren’t many jobs and it’s not close to anything else, so it didn’t last.”

Like most of the retreat centers here, she said, Vajra Vidya accommodates serious practitioners. “We’re set up for people who have already spent a lot of time with their butts on a cushion,” she said.  Meditating and chanting for hours on end takes a lot of discipline and patience.

‘Refuge for World Truths’

Seltong Drongma said Vajra Vidya got its land from the Manitou Foundation, the project of a wealthy couple by the name of Hanne and Maurice Strong. Maurice Strong and a partner bought more than 200,000 acres of land in the valley in the late 1970s.  Hanne Strong later conceived the idea of a “Refuge for World Truths,” and began granting parcels of the land to spiritual groups and organizations.

Seltong Drongma (her name means Lamp of Clarity) said that Crestone was practically a ghost town when Strong began the Manitou Foundation. “Hanne’s vision was that Crestone could be a center for all spiritual traditions,” she said. The foundation granted Vajra Vidya 65 acres, hard against the mountains, with a spectacular view of the pool-table flat San Luis Valley.

Seltong Drongma began studying Tibetan Buddhism and meditating in the early ’70s, she said. Meditation is a way to train the mind to see the world for what it is, breaking down the illusions our egos construct about who we are.

“All of this around us is not solidly real in the way we normally think of it,” she said. “And that is such a relief, because we can get so claustrophobic in our heads. … When you realize that, you can be kind to yourself, and kind to the world.”

Seltong Drongma’s words rang in my ears over the next few days in Crestone. The town is an excellent place to question the nature of reality.

‘Inconvenience is a virtue’

I had a suite with kitchen at the Baca Lodge, one of several bed-and-breakfasts in the area, and I had time to visit retreat centers, talk to Crestonians and contemplate things sublime from a number of perspectives.

Crestone’s handful of city blocks support a coffeehouse, a bar, a health-food grocery, a bank, a crystal-and-jewelry stocked New Age gift store, a gallery selling the work of local artists, a new ceramics center, a few houses and the offices of the Crestone Eagle newspaper, which serves Crestone and Baca Grande, the growing residential development to the south of town, which is also where most of the retreat centers are.

Between Crestone, Baca Grande and the retreat centers, about 1,500 people live in the vicinity.

Kizzen Laki, the Eagle’s editor and publisher, has lived in Crestone for 26 years, starting out in a cabin where she cooked on a woodstove.  She said it takes some fortitude to handle the isolation. “You’re 50 miles from the nearest stop light,” she said. “Our slogan around here is ‘Crestone, where inconvenience is a virtue’.”

That is undoubtedly true for residents. Visitors have an easier time of it. I alternated visits to monastics with excellent Tibetan-influenced meals at the Desert Sage restaurant, hikes in Great Sand Dunes National Park (which is 18 miles south of town), and a memorable hour stewing myself at  Joyful Journey Hot Springs, where the open-air pools offer unobstructed views of the Sangre de Cristos.

Find most religions within walking distance

The spiritual landscape is every bit as tumultuous and dramatic as the physical one. There are few other places where most of the world’s great religions – and some of its most obscure ones – are within walking distance of one another.

At the Haidakhandi Universal Ashram, I joined a gracious Indian family from Denver in the temple for a puja – or prayer ceremony – honoring the Divine Mother. The chanting was in Sanskrit and Hindi, and except for the fact that the woman playing the harmonium was a regal blonde woman from California, we could have easily been in Varanasi.

During a tour of the ashram (or religious community), she said her name was Ramloti, which she said means “Carrying vessel for God.”

The largest building is a long, low structure dug into the side of a hill. Built of tires rammed with dirt and lined with south-facing windows, the structure is called an “Earth Ship,” she said. The ashram is completely off the grid; heat and power comes from passive and active solar energy.

The ashram’s spiritual guru, Haidakhan Baba, looked very youthful in the photos on the wall of the Earth Ship.  “Is he still alive?” I asked.

“That’s a complicated question,” Ramloti said. “He stopped his heart and left his body in 1984. The previous incarnation of Babaji walked into a river and vanished in a column of light. So he’s not really gone. …  He’s still around here [in spirit], stirring the pot.”

Babaji’s central message is simple, Ram Loti said. “Be good people, be kind to each other. He said all religions lead to God if you just do them.”

Religious sampler

In the spirit of that claim, I did my best to sample a broad cross-section of religions in Crestone.  But not all the centers were open.  The Crestone Mountain Zen Center was in the middle of the winter silent retreat. The Carmelite Monastery was busy hosting a group of Sufis (who practice a form of mystical Islam).

But in another odd confluence, the Japanese Shumei Center was the site of a concert of Senegalese folk music; a crowd of about 50 gathered to hear songs in Wolof and French accompanied by the kora (a deeply resonant string instrument).

After the show, two very young and giggly Japanese Shumei followers took a small group on a tour of the immaculate compound. There were extensive gardens to grow food for residents, indoor and outdoor performance spaces, and a sun-filled, modern temple.

Their English was rudimentary, but I gathered (and confirmed later) that the Shumei sect reveres art, organic agriculture, and a form of projected prayer called Johrei.

I experienced Johrei firsthand in the temple. The simple altar held a couple of ink-brush scrolls and a black and white photo of an elderly Japanese man -Shumei founder Mokichi Okada.

My guides led me through a Shumei chant, and then they held their outstretched hands toward my bowed head and focused their prayer energy there. I did feel a kind of warm glow on the top of my head as they prayed, but where it was coming from, I can’t say. (In any case, I also revere art and organic agriculture, so the Shumeis are OK in my book.)

Mayoral decree

The morning that I left Crestone, I had breakfast with Ralph Abrams, the mayor. In keeping with Crestone’s eclectic mix, he’s a Jew from New York who runs one of the Tibetan Buddhist retreat centers.

I asked him about the idea of an intersection of spiritual and physical worlds – was such a crossroads to be found in Crestone?

“Some people will say that this area was sacred to the Indian tribes who lived here,” he said. “And there is an amazing combination of elements at play. You have earth, water, sun, air in this very intense atmosphere of natural beauty. That’s an immense support, no matter what your practice is.”

“But I actually came here in ‘97 for a more pragmatic reason; I was looking for a place to practice [meditation] and where else could I get three lots with access to Crestone Peak for $21,000?”

He said that in his experience soulful truths aren’t to be found in a physical place, and those who come looking for instant spiritual gratification probably will find something else.

“Maybe someone comes here looking for an easy fix, and what they need is to have their ego destroyed,” he said. “Lose their identity. Be crushed in the dust until they’re nothing but a phantom by the side of the road. Maybe that’s what they need to figure out who they really are. That can happen here, too.”

Chris Welsch is a freelance photographer and writer based in St. Paul, Minn. Find out more about him at www.chriswelsch.com

IF YOU GO:

Getting there: Crestone, in south-central Colorado, is about 200 miles and a four-hour drive from Denver. The most direct route – taking Hwy. 285 to Hwy. 17 – crosses four alpine passes, and Crestone itself is at an altitude of about 8,000 feet. That means weather is a concern even in the summer months; check forecasts before departing.

Staying there: I had a pleasant stay at the  new Baca Lodge bed-and-breakfast. There are three tasteful, simple rooms in the main house for $75 a night.   There’s a separate large studio with a full kitchen and clear mountain views for $150. 719-256-5798. www.bacalodge.com.

There are a couple of inns and several more bed-and-breakfasts listed at www.crestonecolorado.com and at http://saguache.org/ (Crestone is in Saguache County).

Most of the retreat centers are dedicated to those who practice the represented religion, but the Nada Hermitage is open to spiritual seekers from other traditions. The Spiritual Life Institute runs Nada, a Catholic organization dedicated to the Carmelite tradition. Singles and couples are welcome. The hermitage suggests a donation of about $60 a night for singles and $70 for couples. Reservations recommended. 719-256-4778, www.spirituallifeinstitute.org.

Playing there: Great Sand Dunes National Park -  The park is open year-round,  though it can be brutally – and dangerously – hot in summer. The small visitor center has excellent displays on the geology and history of the dunes. The two campbrounds are often full in summer. 719-378-6399. ww.nps.org/grsa

Hot Springs: Don’t miss a visit to one of the several hot springs in the area. Joyful Journey offers access to its four outdoor pools for $12, but also offers spa services and lodging. 719-256-4328. www.joyfuljourneyhotsprings.com.

A better option for families with kids is the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool, which has large pool with diving boards and a snack bar in addition to a big hot pool for soaking. Adults $10, kids $6. 719-378-2807, www.sanddunespool.com.

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