Chop wood, carry water

Complexity is an illusion. Life is supremely simple. It’s what I’m doing now.

Be still

When I am still, I am home.

Naked seeing

We see nakedly when we see without thinking about what we are seeing, when there’s no screen of mentation separating seer from seen, when for a moment the subject/object split is healed. Babies and other new life forms see nakedly. First, their faces open as if they are seeing something miraculous. Then they smile. If the new life form is a puppy, it licks our faces with a giddy avidity. They are thrilled, I tell you. Thrilled.

In the city

The answers to life’s most important questions are within us. For assistance with lesser matters—how to play the piano, for example, or car repair—we may seek assistance from our environment. The inner life is primary; the outer is secondary. Life returns us to the city of self-trust, to the temple of self-sufficiency.

“Stay in the city.” Heed not signs and wonders.

Not a problem

Emotions are not a problem until we start thinking about them. Emotions want to be pondered, discussed, preserved, chewed on, bowed to, fussed over, explained. They need thought to survive. They need words.