marginalia

When I relinquish all thought of the self as is and cultivate the gaze of pure objectivity, then for the first time, as a figure in a painting, I attain a beautiful harmony with the natural phenomena around me.  The instant I revert to thoughts of my distress at the falling rain and the weariness of my legs, I lose my place in the world of the poem or painting.

—Natsume Soseki, from Kusamakura
    Picture from My Neighbor Totoro

“I realize that the child I was, quick to love and quick to be hurt, was very lucky.  I walked on the mirror of a river of coiling snakes and dancing butterflies.  I played in orchards that in their robust old age were giving fruit.  I hid among reeds under the care of creatures strong as oaks and sensitive as birds.”

—Rene Char; picture from My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki