Doing Without Doing

OK here's the thing. If you knew me (in real life and not just through these pages) you'd know that I'm somewhat, um, how do I put it...sedentary. So I love it when I find bits of philosophy here and there to confirm my life and choice and actually assign a virtue to it. Once I remember, it was in an Agatha Christie murder mystery: The Moving Finger, where the hero takes all the trouble to explain to the heroine as well as the obnoxious active pest, the benefits of being idle. (The best ideas, etc). I read and re-read that bit and smiled to myself.

Ah yes, the benefits of being idle.

I could write a book.

Except that I'm too idle to do so.

Also, lazy.

I love work when it flows effortlessly, when I'm writing something I care about, when it doesn't seem like work at all, when I toss it off in about 10 minutes, because, that's how easy it is. And easy doesn't necessarily mean low quality, although we frequently assign a value to our work based on how much we had to constipate through it.

Nuff of this. I found this other bit of philosophy to confirm my life of choice. I found it in Martha Beck's Following Your Own North Star which I absolutely love, but it's apparently from Lao-tzu, that ancient Chinese philosopher. Go figure.

In the pursuit of knowledge,
everyday something is added.
In the practice of the Way,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.