“Dwelling beside a body of water is tonic for the weary psyche. Sea smells, sea birds, seawrack, sands - alternately cool, warm, moist and dry - a taste of brine and the presence of the rocking, slopping bluegraygreen spit-flecked waters, has the effect of rinsing the emotions, bathing the outlook, bleaching the conscience.” BodyWaterEmotionSeaEffectsTasteBirdConscienceWarmSmellDrySandWearyOutlookDwellingSpitBathingBodies Of WaterSea BirdsBleaching Book:Isle of the Dead ; Eye of Cat Source: Isle of the Dead ; Eye of Cat
“The only creative power I know is that of what might roughly be called 'love'; not of course a sentimental love: a far more impersonal and less individual emotion. I sometimes think that migratory birds may have it for each other. They fly in the same direction, and have never been seen to interfere with each other's flights.” ThinkingKnowsMaySometimesMightCoursesIndividualEmotionCreativeBirdFlightInterfereSentimentalCreative PowerMigratory Birds Book:Survival Source: Survival
“This is what Zen means by being detached—not being without emotion or feeling, but being one in whom feeling is not sticky or blocked, and through whom the experiences of the world pass like the reflections of birds flying over water.” WorldMeanFeelingsWaterEmotionBirdReflectionFlyingDetachedBlockedStickyBird Flying Book:This is It, and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience Source: This is It, and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience