It was with sorrow that I recently read of Tony Hillerman’s death.  Mr. Hillerman was of course the author of many fine books, with perhaps the series about the Navajo policemen, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, being his most famous.  Hillerman presented these mystery stories in the context of the Navajo culture, showing the difficulties that modern Navajos face and at the same time instructing the reader in the culture.

If you haven’t read Hillerman’s novels then you have a rare treat ahead of you.  If I were just beginning his novels then I would start at the beginning and read each in chronological order.  One thing that he describes in lovely evocative detail is the land in the four corners area.  He describes the canyons, the desert, the plants, the colors, the weather in such a way that, although I have been through this area before, he makes me want to go back and spend time there.

However, what made me want to write a note about him was a passage that I was just reading in his second book, The Dance Hall of the Dead. Leaphorn, the Navajo policeman, was standing by some men who were digging the body of a brutally murdered boy from an embankment.  As the men dug the body out in a slow methodical sort of way,  Leaphorn was watching the sunrise and how it shown and illuminated the buttes and canyons of the area.  He seemed to be concentrating on the beauty before him and not upon the horrendous scene unfolding at his feet.

Here is another passage in the words of Jim Chee which reflects his peoples attitude toward not only beauty but of the interconnectedness of this existence:

“Everything is connected. The wing of the corn beetle effects the direction of the wind, the way the sand drifts, the way the light reflects into the eye of man beholding his reality. All is part of totality, and in this totality man finds his horzo, his way of walking in harmony, with beauty all around him.”

The Navajo people have this sense of appreciating the beauty around us and have written several poems, chants and prayers about it.  The following is one version of a prayer from the Navajo Nightway Chant:

Beauty is before me

and

Beauty behind me, above me and

below me hovers the beautiful.

I am surrounded by,

I am immersed in it.

In my youth, I am aware of it,

and, in old age,

I shall walk quietly the beautiful trail.

In beauty it is begun.

In beauty it is ended.

I pray that I will be able to “walk quietly the beautiful trail.”