photography by ALEXIS DAHAN text by WALTER KIRN photography by ALEXIS DAHAN I love MONTANA because it doesn’t love me. It doesn’t love anyone. Like any perfect beauty, it’s indifferent to anything but itself. This frees me to desire it with my entire being, knowing that it can’t be seduced, possessed, or changed. It can only be wanted, purely, without selfishness. Montana lives for itself and its own needs. After living here for over 20 years I’m still an outsider, an alien. I can only stand back and bear witness to the time when it will sweep me up, consume me fully, and move on. A little over 20 years ago I moved from New York City to Montana, to write about a zealous religious cult that believed the world was going to end. The cult members thought the mountains would keep them safe from the violence of World War…