“Too often in the past our approach to truth has been to assume that we have it and others do not. Consequently, we have thought that our role is to tell people what to believe. We are being invited instead into a new humility, to serve the holy wisdom that is already stirring in the hearts of people everywhere, the growing awareness of earth’s interrelatedness and sacredness.”
John Philip Newell
I went to a local coffee shop to sit outside and journal but that did not happen. There was a group of men gathered around a couple tables talking loudly, wearing shirts that told you their political opinions, one of them packing a gun. We are faced daily with people telling us what to believe, their truth, from all different perspectives. It was not a comfortable place, so I left. I went where I could listen to the birds sing. They make more sense to me and I love their music.
What would our world be like if people spent time in nature? Would there be an experience of the awareness of our interrelatedness and sacredness that Newell talks about? How would that change us? Maybe we’d realize we need to be students rather than know-it-alls. Or worse yet, think we need to change the world but not ourselves.
6 Comments
Tom Dills
Wow, talk about a 180 degree turn to your day! Everyone gets to have an opinion but I wish they didn’t find it necessary to share it with the world. And I wish some of them didn’t have to be so loud about it.
Unfortunately for guys like that, “time in nature” would look like blasting up a road on a loud motorcycle with music blaring, or blasting holes in trees with assault rifles. You had the right idea, and the journal can wait.
My guess is you had plenty of material to write about after that experience! 😉
Monte Stevens
Yes, I also make the assumption their time in nature is for sporting events rather than any spiritual endeavor. The competitive part of us wants to dominate and control rather than discover how much a part of nature we truly are.
Joe
Well stated, Monte. Hopefully, your coffee shop hasn’t been ruined for you.
Monte Stevens
Thanks, Joe. Thankfully, it’s not a coffee shop I patronize that often. Feel it was ruined a long time ago. They play the piped music too loud which encourages the patrons to talk even louder. 😂
Mark
My peace would have been interrupted as well. But may have been tempted to snap a photo. 🙂
Monte Stevens
Strange I never thought of that. I just wanted as much distance as I could get.