Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
Pg. 54

“Grass grows out between crowded rocks and boulders; distant sweeps of scree can he seen making gashes down the sides of the morning, his eyes shine with joy, he’s on his way.”

Japhy as soon as he sees the mountains his expression is as if he is a little child coming home form a long trip. Japhy feels at home when he’s near the mountains he is the most comfortable. Japhy uses the mountain as an out let from civilization, a place where he had no pressure to do anything but what he pleases. Also while his out there on the mountain he has no need to create voids and drink but to be there in the moment with himself. Ray sees this is tells Japhy that he is grateful that they met because now Japhy can teach Ray to be more inspired by life.

Pg. 62

“This is the way I like it, when you get going there’s just no need to talk, as if we were animals and just communicated by silent telepathy. So huddled in our own thoughts we tromped on, Japhy using that step, which was short steps slowly patiently going up the mountain at one mile an hour, so I was always thirty yards behind him and when we had any haikus now we’d yell then fore and aft.”

Japhy and Ray were hiking the mountain to find a campsite before it got dark. While they were hiking Morley forgot something and walked back down the trail to fix the car so it didn’t freeze, this gave Ray and Japhy to get to know each other better. Ray was thrilled to learn more about Japhy and how he works. They were both making haikus while they were hiking but soon they stopped talking but not for awkward reasons but they were really taking in the scenery and living in the moment. They both realized how beautiful this mountain was and appreciated it more. This moment of silence was their time to be able to connect with what was around them and go to their own pace.