Essay By Julie Brandes

I am less interested in being ordained as a monk but greatly interested in studying and knowing wisdom. This path grants a rare opportunity to study with a trusted, kind and devoted teacher.

How could I not engage?

Early in life I had a love for the book of Proverbs the wisdom teaching of the bible. I am inclined to lean into the “good, true and beautiful” as my old philosophy teacher would say. I’ve always had the highest regard for truth/ epistemology.

Truths are relative.

In the medical world the half-life of trust used to be ~ 40 years; who knows how short it is now? This helped me pare down to time tested council for others.

And no matter how well we care for the body, it will disintegrate eventually.

Everyone wants to know where home is. Knowing home, our true nature, the immutable: this gives the peace that passes all understanding.

Should this not be cultivated?

In the non-material world / realm, one needs a timeless perspective, a view that includes everyone (not just my clan, my people  and those who think like me).

How can one know, not learn but know and remember these truths of our existence?

– through stillness

– through emptying the mind of what I think I know

Through zazen a different world is opening one grounded in this moment. Through seeing things/minute events as they are rather than through the lens of Julie, I can see a little more clearly.

Why study??

Because I am always hungry for mana and because wisdom has always been my first love.

Julie, a slow monk on a long journey.