leaves,  quotes,  snow,  trees,  winter scenes

Journey to Wholeness

Sacred wisdom is deep in our nature. The journey to wholeness is about awakening to this wisdom deep within and seeking it everywhere, in every culture and every religion.

John Philip Newell

The snow finally let up about 11:00 this morning. My guess is 6-8 inches of snow with a fine layer of ice beneath the powdery snow. Restless by noon I took the Number 2 bus to campus then walked over to Mugs. This snowfall has been beautiful, a winter wonderland that excited this photographer’s shutter finger. I like how snow can hide something or highlight it. I pretty much had the coffee shop to myself as many students are still on break and the snow kept many people home. Therefore my baristas, Emma and James, spoiled me. I had my Old Town Mocha and one of their November Specials, a bowl of butternut squash soup. It hit the spot.

I really like Newell’s quote above. He touches on four things that have become important in my journey of life. They are sacred, wisdom, nature and awakening. I say that because I’m awakening to some knowing deep within me that every human being, creature, plant, all of creation is sacred. I am also wakening to the idea that maybe we are all made from the same speck of stardust of our creator. Anyway, here are a few images from this afternoon’s journey to wholeness and some damn good butternut squash soup on this rather frigid Saturday.

Retired. Having fun shooting Fujifilm cameras. Journal daily. Meditate daily. Learning haiku. Have a love for fountain pens.

12 Comments

  • Mark

    That first big snow is always a fun time – how dramatically the world changes around you. It seems to be headed this way today, not sure if we will get this much, or the significant transformation.

    It is a nice quote. I like the concept of awakening as a process. Sometimes I have difficulty accepting what is “sacred” as it seems such a subjective term. Then again, I suppose it is in its meaning that it shouldn’t be subjective, and that subjectivity is perhaps the real problem term vs. the word “sacred.” 🙂

    Then I suppose understanding creation is something that has been going on for thousands of years. It makes you wonder how some animal life that has existed longer than us contemplates such things, if at all – or is it just accepted. We may spend the next thousand years seeking answers, perhaps just needing to be content with rolling stone a little bit forward.

    • Monte Stevens

      I am definitely a believer in the concept of awakening as a process. As a young man, I was taught that some things were sacred and some things were not sacred, which means that I must make some kind of a judgment. And, who am I to make that judgment? At this stage of my life I am learning see all things as sacred and that has been a wonderful awakening process.

      I have listened to the meadowlarks song and wonder if it’s a song of praise, joy or excitement. And I have sat and watched eye to eye with a cottontail, wondering if it is trying to communicate or is communicating. Those of you who own dogs or cats can relate to what I’m saying. Thank you for your comments mark. You have given me some things to think about, write about.

      Yes, I see on the weather app where you are going to get some snow and cold. Stay warm my friend.

      • Geri Oster

        Thank you, Monte and friends for your wisdom. It is such a relief to “learn” that I don’t have to make a judgement of you, of life, of Creation, of God. “I don’t know” is such a lovely and freeing statement of truth for me today. Instead, I can just look and see and enjoy with wonder. Blessings. By the way, we had 24″ inches of the beautiful white stuff over Thanksgiving. I’m still working on getting what I can off of the roof…but I love it. Snow angel time!

        • Monte Stevens

          Holy Cow, that’s a lot of snow! Glad you stopped by in-between shoveling snow. Yes, I am becoming far more comfortable saying “I don’t know.” Stay warm and be safe, my friend.

  • Tom Dills

    Snow has such a nice way of simplifying a scene by hiding a lot of the extraneous details, and it also creates new details of its own. This is a great representation of the unspoiled urban landscape after a hefty coating.