In the old days, Zen was not really practiced so much in a monastery. The Zen Master usually lived up on a top of the mountain or the hill or in the forest or sometimes in the village.
I'm an observer of life. I like to watch people, and I like to watch cactus. I like to talk to mountains and communicate with my friends in the other spheres and dimensions.
You are down in the valley and the valley is filled with smog. You can't see too well. When we meditate, we are going beyond the smog to the top of the mountain.
In the high mountains and desert beings can affect you. Most aren't malicious, but some will lure you to your death.
They say that faith can move mountains, so can bulldozers, so can nuclear weapons. I'm not really sure if that's what faith is intended for. I guess if there is a mountain that has to be moved, and you've got nothing else to do it with, you could probably do it with faith.