Old Hairy Jesus (a.k.a. Dave Holmes) and his smoke show wife, Linda, split their time between Johnsville, CA, a small gold mining town in The Lost Sierras and the Sonoma wine country town of Sebastopol, CA, an hour north of where the story unfolds­­ in San Francisco. In these areas you will frequently hear mentions of the Sage of The Sierras or the Sebastopol Saint; both references to Old Hairy Jesus or OHJ as his friends affectionately call him.

OHJ majored in psychology, did his graduate studies in Eastern philosophy at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and accidentally spent sixteen years in Silicon Valley’s high-tech circus, where he earned his PhD in Humility Studies from The School of Hard Knocks. The story pulls from these aspects of his life and his own transformational journey to reveal the foundations of Buddhist psychology through the lens of our contemporary Western culture.

Most importantly, while Old Hairy Jesus is not afraid to do tequila shots, he prefers to sip it over ice because he’s very sophisticated.

OHJ clip on the idea of his book as seen on The 1095 Podcast.

More than just a pretty book cover, this story gets into philosophy, living in San Francisco, crushing pressures, empathy, gut-busting humor, self-discovery, friendships, relationships, and much more.