It means “the art of doing nothing” and I’m considering it my most profound spiritual practice. Of course, as long as I’m alive, I’m doing something, but I am discovering that when I slow down, when I still myself, it is there that I am in touch with my spirit and those around me, however they are named.
I think it is why the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree...
...and sages go to the mountain tops...
...and Thoreau celebrated Walden Pond...
...and monks and nuns take retreat...
...and First Peoples of the Americas do vision quest...
...and Jesus went into the wilderness and sat on a hill talking to the people he loved about a better way to be (Matthew 6:25-34)...and why he admonished Martha to refrain from busyness...
It’s sitting in the back garden in the morning with my coffee, listening to the birds.
It’s watching the grass grow and the flowers boom and the strawberries ripen...
It’s a walk in the woods and encountering a fawn nibbling on foliage...
It’s sitting on a beach listening to the ocean...
It’s sitting in silence and tears with a friend whose mother has just died...
How do you practice this fine spiritual art?
- Joined
- 03 Jan 13
- Moves
- 13080
@hakima
My daughter keeps recommending to me Julia Cameron author of "The Artist's Way".
She is a motivational speaker with perhaps a bit of mystic leaning.
@kevin-eleven saidCan you see the full moon from either of those spots?
@hakima
sitting in the carport with a diffuse focus as the leaves move
standing in the driveway, in the soundfield of birdsong, maybe in a balmy breeze