Once in a lifetime, perhaps, one escapes the actual confines
of the flesh. Once in a lifetime, if one is lucky, one so merges with sunlight
and air and running water that whole eons, the eons that mountains and deserts
know, might pass in a single afternoon without discomfort. The mind has sunk away
into its beginnings among old roots and the obscure tricklings and movings that
stir inanimate things. Like the charmed fairy circle into which a man once stepped,
and upon emergence learned that the whole century had passed in a single night,
one can never quite define this secret; but it has something to do, I am sure,
with common water. Its substance reaches everywhere; it touches the past and prepares
the future; it moves under the poles and wanders thinly in the heights of the
air. It can assume forms of exquisite perfection in a snowflake or strip the living
to a single shining bone cast up by the sea.
- Loren Eisley, from The Immense Journey
Summer Night Storm
The ranting of the gods, this tumbling sky, this wind-strong
rain which pelts against my cheek, the world re-lit by lightning, and the lie
of tall sea grass low bent against the sand. I stand here, strangely still,
with all the world tumultuous at my feet, and yet my heart is stronger than
the roaring wind that swirls about my body, taut against its force; that blows
my eyelids shut, that locks my lips, lest all my spirit end its restlessness
in one wild song.
- Jane Tyson Clement
If waters are placid, the moon will be mirrored perfectly. If we still ourselves,
we can mirror the divine perfectly. But if we engage solely in the frenetic
activities of our daily involvements, if we seek to impose our own schemes on
the natural order, and if we allow ourselves to become absorbed in self-centered
views, the surface of our waters becomes turbulent. Then we cannot be receptive
to Tao.
There is no effort that we can make to still ourselves. True
stillness comes naturally from moments of solitude where we allow our minds
to settle. Just as water seeks its own level, the mind will gravitate toward
the holy. Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and
so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still.
- Deng Ming-Dao, from 365 Tao: Daily Meditations
I think the value of the game of identification depends on how you play it.
If it becomes an end in itself I count it of little use. It is possible to compile
extensive lists of creatures seen and identified without ever once having caught
a breath-taking glimpse of the wonder of life. If a child asked me a question
that suggested even a faint awareness of the mystery behind the arrival of a
migrant sandpiper on the beach of an August morning, I would be far more pleased
than by the mere fact that he knew it was a sandpiper and not a plover.... Those
who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the
earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of
their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment
and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the
earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There
is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb
and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for spring. There is something infinitely
healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after
night, and spring after the winter.
- Rachel Carson, from The Sense of Wonder
Instead of dashing through the day, completing one activity as quickly as possible
so as to get at something else, it would be better to savor each part of the
day as if this were your last day.Get as much out of the present moment as possible,
from daybreak to bedtime. Even sleeping should be done well, even if one must
wake up now and then to enjoy the night. When you eat, give each dish its full
importance and extract its individual flavor... Most everything we do deserves
reverence, and a special setting. But one must live naturally, without pretense.
- Harlan Hubbard, from Payne Hollow Journal
