And the Grass Grows by Itself

The movie Eat Pray Love, which I finally watched on DVD, reminded me of an old Buddhist poem:

Sitting silently
Doing nothing
The Spring comes
And the grass grows by itself

So, as the protagonist of Eat Pray Love learns, the Italians have distilled the aesthetic of doing nothing in an even more exquisite phrase: il dolce far niente or the sweetness of doing nothing.

The idea of rejuvenating the spirit and body through inaction is nothing new. The Abrahamic religions bestowed the idea of sabbath. Buddhist masters set aside time for doing nothing, except perhaps brewing tea and watching the cassia flowers fall.

Time for me to do nothing!