“In our time, in our civilization, sitting and doing nothing is considered either to be a luxury or a waste of time. But sitting can produce the most nourishing calm and joy and we can all afford some time to sit. How wonderful to sit and do nothing.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
For me, especially to sit and do nothing in Nature easily produces that state of nourishing calm that Thich Nhat Hanh’s quote describes. Nature’s abundance and abiding wisdom is found in this quiet calm of sitting. It is a meditation, it is connection, and it is joy; certainly it is joy.
The wonderfulness of sitting and doing nothing in nature is so fulfilling, so very full and rich.
“The lamps are different,
But the Light is the same.
So many garish lamps in the dying brain’s lamp-show,
Forget about them.
Concentrate on the essence, concentrate on the Light.
In lucid bliss, calmly smoking off its own holy fire,
The Light streams towards you from all things,
All people, all possible permutations of good, evil, thought, passion.
The lamps are different,
but the Light is the same.
One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind,
Endlessly emanating all things.
One turning and burning diamond,
One, one, one.
Ground yourself, strip yourself down,
To blind loving silence.
Stay there, until you see
You are gazing at the Light
With its own ageless eyes.”
You start dying slowly when you kill your self-esteem,
when you do not let others help you.
You start dying slowly if you become a slave to your habits,
walking everyday on the same paths… if you do not change your routine.
If you do not wear different colors or you do not speak to those you don’t know.
You start dying slowly if you avoid to feel passion & its turbulent emotions, those that make your eyes glisten & your heart beat fast.
You start dying slowly if you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love, or with your surroundings. If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain, if you do not go after a dream,
if you do not allow yourself,
at least once in your lifetime
to run away from sensible advice.”
-Pablo Neruda
The photos below speak to me of these themes of LIVING:
