Sit down, fool. Do nothing.

E. Anthony Orme

“Trying to get out of the illusion is the greatest illusion of all.”

-Adyashanti

holy is the earth 

holy is this life 

forest sky sea soil 

our heartbeat 

and our breath are holy 

our compassion 

embrace the earth  embrace your life

-james lee jobe 

"If a problem is fixable, there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no benefit in worrying whatsoever."

-Dalai Lama XIV

The valley oak trees are perfect and still. The sky is empty and powder blue, no clouds, no airplanes. All is quiet, you can hear your own breath. And then, striding across the top of the world, your life comes along to take you away again. And you, you fool, you go. 

-james lee jobe

                a poem by Rumi

Don’t worry about saving these songs!

And if one of our instruments breaks,

it doesn’t matter.

We have fallen into the place

where everything is music.

The strumming and the flute notes

rise into the atmosphere,

and even if the whole world’s harp

should burn up, there will still be

hidden instruments playing.

So the candle flickers and goes out.

We have a piece of flint, and a spark.

This singing art is sea foam.

The graceful movements come from a pearl

somewhere on the ocean floor.

Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge

of driftwood along the beach, wanting!

They derive

from a slow and powerful root

that we can’t see.

Stop the words now.

Open the window in the center of your chest,

and let the spirit fly in and out.

-Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (1207-1273)

In the dream I was going to New Orleans to eat a sandwich. It seemed perfectly normal to do this. I rode a bicycle with ladders tied to the sides, longways. Cumbersome, sure, this also seemed like a perfectly normal thing to be doing. And New Orleans is only a couple of thousand miles away. The dream changed into some problem with my mother, who seemed to be a different woman than my actual mother and I had to keep squinting my eyes to see her, that was OK, too. I never got to New Orleans and I never ate the sandwich. Somewhere along the way I lost the bike with the ladders, in some endless shopping mall. And the problem with my new mother was never solved. Good morning. Did you sleep well?

-james lee jobe

If we live, we live; if we die, we die; if we suffer, we suffer; if we are terrified, we are terrified. No problem.

-Alan Watts

You can walk or run, but there is really no need to go anywhere at all. Wherever you go, you will still be stuck with yourself. Sit down, fool. Do nothing. The moon is rising even while you worry. 

james lee jobe

If you liked this post, if you like this blog, you can help support it by buying me a coffee once in a while. Not every time, just sometimes! 

Thanks  -james