--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Why do I live in the desert? Because the…" description: "\"Why do I live in the desert? Because the desert is the *locus Dei*.\" — Edward Abbey" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a74/edward-abbey-254_desert_why-do-i-live-in-the-desert-because-the_1528357.png" --- # Why do I live in the desert? Because the desert is the… ![“Why do I live in the desert? Because the desert is the *locus Dei*.” quote by Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a74/edward-abbey-254_desert_why-do-i-live-in-the-desert-because-the_1528357.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a74/edward-abbey-254_desert_why-do-i-live-in-the-desert-because-the_1528357.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a74/edward-abbey-254_desert_why-do-i-live-in-the-desert-because-the_1528357.png) > “Why do I live in the desert? Because the desert is the \*locus Dei\*.” [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Questions existence, linking the desert to a divine locus, implying spiritual presence in emptiness. **In simple terms:** Sees the desert as a sacred place. Key Takeaway Reflect on nature as a spiritual source. Themes nature spirituality existence Mood contemplative reverent Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - hiking - meditation - environmental activism Key Concepts locus Dei philosophical inquiry Questions to Reflect On - What does the desert symbolize for you? - How does environment shape your spirituality? A Different Perspective May oversimplify complex theological concepts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) [Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) ## Related quotes > [How are we to live with the desert, in the desert, within the desert?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/magnus-larsson/how-are-we-to-live-with-the-desert-in-the-desert-within-the-desert/) [Magnus Larsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/magnus-larsson/) > [I would go out into the desert. The desert was my teacher. I didn't know about gurus and wise people-I wasn't a reader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/byron-katie/i-would-go-out-into-the-desert-the-desert-was-my-teacher-i-didn-t/) [Byron Katie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/byron-katie/) > [A geometry implies the heterogeneity of locus, namely that there is a locus of the Other. Regarding this locus of the Other, of one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lacan/a-geometry-implies-the-heterogeneity-of-locus-namely-that-there-is-a/) [Jacques Lacan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lacan/) > [“HIC LOCUS EST UBI MORS GAUDET SUCCURRERE VITAE.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-hill/hic-locus-est-ubi-mors-gaudet-succurrere-vitae/) [Joe Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-hill/) > [“Your locus of attention is the single point on which you are able to concentrate your mind. You’re human and you can only focus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/your-locus-of-attention-is-the-single-point-on-which-you-are-able-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is better to live alone in the desert than with a crabby, complaining wife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/proverbs-21-19/it-is-better-to-live-alone-in-the-desert-than-with-a-crabby/) Proverbs 21:19 > [On the one hand, I want to go off and live in the desert with my dog and sculpt things out of adobe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-ford/on-the-one-hand-i-want-to-go-off-and-live-in-the-desert-with-my-dog/) [Tom Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-ford/) > [“I'd rather die than be famous, I want to go live in the desert With long wild hair, eating At my campfire, full of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/i-d-rather-die-than-be-famous-i-want-to-go-live-in-the-desert-with/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [I don't want to live in a desert of dirt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-moorehead/i-don-t-want-to-live-in-a-desert-of-dirt/) [Agnes Moorehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-moorehead/) > [My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/my-sole-literary-ambition-is-to-write-one-good-novel-then-retire-to/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [If you're never ridden a fast horse at a dead run across a desert valley at dawn, be of good cheer: You've only missed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/if-you-re-never-ridden-a-fast-horse-at-a-dead-run-across-a-desert/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Night and day the river flows. If time is the mind of space, the River is the soul of the desert. Brave boatmen come,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/night-and-day-the-river-flows-if-time-is-the-mind-of-space-the-river/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [We need wilderness because we are wild animals. Everyone needs a place where he can go to go crazy in peace. For the terror,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/we-need-wilderness-because-we-are-wild-animals-everyone-needs-a-place/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“And now you will ask me about the musicians that played for the jackalope wives. Well, if you can find a place where they’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-vernon/and-now-you-will-ask-me-about-the-musicians-that-played-for-the/) [Ursula Vernon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-vernon/) > [I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe. We were all made by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/i-have-inside-me-the-winds-the-deserts-the-oceans-the-stars-and/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) ## More by Edward Abbey > [A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/a-man-could-be-a-lover-and-defender-of-the-wilderness-without-ever-in/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Apuleius married a rich widow, then wrote \_The Golden Ass\_.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/apuleius-married-a-rich-widow-then-wrote-the-golden-ass/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Except for the scale of the operation, there was nothing unusual about Hitler's massacre of the Jews. Genocide's an old tradition, as human as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/except-for-the-scale-of-the-operation-there-was-nothing-unusual-about/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [By the age of eighteen, a human has acquired enough joy and heartache to provide the food of reflection for a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/by-the-age-of-eighteen-a-human-has-acquired-enough-joy-and-heartache/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Our institutions are too big; they represent not the best but the worst characteristics of human beings. By submitting to huge hierarchies of power,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/our-institutions-are-too-big-they-represent-not-the-best-but-the/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [No man-made structure in all of American history has been hated so much, by so many, for so long, with such good reason, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/no-man-made-structure-in-all-of-american-history-has-been-hated-so/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/where-all-pretend-to-be-thinking-alike-it-s-likely-that-no-one-is/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Nobody has so many friends that he can afford to lose one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/nobody-has-so-many-friends-that-he-can-afford-to-lose-one/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“But why, the questioner insists, why do people like you pretend to love uninhabited country so much? Why this cult of wilderness? Why the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/but-why-the-questioner-insists-why-do-people-like-you-pretend-to-love/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Civilization is a youth with a molotov cocktail in his hand. Culture is the Soviet tank or L.A. cop that guns him down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/civilization-is-a-youth-with-a-molotov-cocktail-in-his-hand-culture/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [All revolutions have failed? Perhaps. But rebellion for good cause is self- justifying -- a good in itself. Rebellion transforms slaves into human beings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/all-revolutions-have-failed-perhaps-but-rebellion-for-good-cause-is/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Me, I'm living under a sword too, as Jack may have told you. An old wino's disease, which could lay me in the grave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/me-i-m-living-under-a-sword-too-as-jack-may-have-told-you-an-old-wino/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Look here, I want to say, for godsake folks get out of them there machines, take off those fucking sunglasses and unpeel both eyeballs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/look-here-i-want-to-say-for-godsake-folks-get-out-of-them-there/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Reason has seldom failed us because it has seldom been tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/reason-has-seldom-failed-us-because-it-has-seldom-been-tried/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“What is the essence of the art of writing? Part One: Have something to say. Part Two: Say it well.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/what-is-the-essence-of-the-art-of-writing-part-one-have-something-to/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) [Explore all 807 Edward Abbey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ## More Desert quotes > [I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe. We were all made by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/i-have-inside-me-the-winds-the-deserts-the-oceans-the-stars-and/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“And now you will ask me about the musicians that played for the jackalope wives. Well, if you can find a place where they’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-vernon/and-now-you-will-ask-me-about-the-musicians-that-played-for-the/) [Ursula Vernon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-vernon/) > [Some people are like ants. Give them a warm day and a piece of ground and they start digging. There the similarity ends. Ants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-borland/some-people-are-like-ants-give-them-a-warm-day-and-a-piece-of-ground/) [Hal Borland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-borland/) > [I do spend a lot of weekends on the road. I have to pace myself. It can be pretty busy, but I'm not out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-sinise/i-do-spend-a-lot-of-weekends-on-the-road-i-have-to-pace-myself-it-can/) [Gary Sinise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-sinise/) > [I did not support Operation Desert Fox.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janeane-garofalo/i-did-not-support-operation-desert-fox/) [Janeane Garofalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janeane-garofalo/) > [“The cactus thrives in the desert while the fern thrives in the wetland. The fool will try to plant them in the same flowerbox.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/the-cactus-thrives-in-the-desert-while-the-fern-thrives-in-the/) [Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/) > [I am sympathetic to developing countries’ concerns: because of our emissions it’s their crops that will disappear; because of our inaction, it’s their fields…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kerry/i-am-sympathetic-to-developing-countries-concerns-because-of-our/) [John F. Kerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kerry/) > [Use every man according to his desert and who should 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honor and dignity, the less they deserve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/use-every-man-according-to-his-desert-and-who-should-scape-whipping/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david/there-is-nothing-in-the-desert-and-no-man-needs-nothing/) [David](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david/) > [Who’s to say that it takes something like a drug to mess with your perception of reality? How did Hitler deceive a nation? How…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/who-s-to-say-that-it-takes-something-like-a-drug-to-mess-with-your/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [God hath work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-owen/god-hath-work-to-do-in-this-world-and-to-desert-it-because-of-its/) [John Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-owen/) > [“If you build a road in the desert and then leave it to its fate, the desert sands will swallow that road! The same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/if-you-build-a-road-in-the-desert-and-then-leave-it-to-its-fate-the/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Hulkamania is like a single grain of sand in the Sahara desert that is Nacho Madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/macho-man-randy-savage/hulkamania-is-like-a-single-grain-of-sand-in-the-sahara-desert-that/) [Macho Man Randy Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/macho-man-randy-savage/) > [“The Estate of Solemnity By right, it reigns in its places- in long beards Of spanish moss hanging from a live oak On a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pattiann-rogers/the-estate-of-solemnity-by-right-it-reigns-in-its-places-in-long/) [Pattiann Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pattiann-rogers/) > [The earth itself assures us it is a living entity. Deep below surface one can hear its slow pulse, feel its vibrant rhythm. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-waters/the-earth-itself-assures-us-it-is-a-living-entity-deep-below-surface/) [Frank Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-waters/) [Browse all 1,675 Desert quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Why do I live in the desert? 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