Description
In this beautifully written book, David E. Cooper uses a gentle walk through a tropical garden – the view of the fields and hills beyond it, the sound of birds, voices and flutes, the reflection of light in water, the play of shadows among the trees and the presence of strange animals – as an opportunity to reflect on experiences of nature and the mystery of existence.
Covering an extensive range of topics, from Daoism to dogs, from gardening to walking, from Zen to Debussy, Cooper succeeds in conveying some deep and difficult philosophical ideas about the meaning of life in an engaging manner, showing how those ideas bear upon the practical question of how we should relate to our world and live our lives.
A thought-provoking and compelling book, Senses of Mystery is a triumph of both storytelling and philosophy.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
1. In a Garden
2. The Truth of Mystery
Ineffability
The Scientific Image
The World as Fiction?
The World as Gift
3. Religion, Nature and Mystery
Religion, Faith and Mystery
‘Nothing Special’
Senses of Mystery
Nature and Culture
4. Animals
Animal Worlds
The Opacity of Animals
Animals, Mystery and World
Animals and ‘The Open’
5. Music
Music and Experience
Music and Nature
Music, Culture, Environment
Music and the Mystery of Emergence
6. Walking
Meditation on the Move
Body, Mind and Involvement
Communion and Holism
Walking and Senses of Mystery
7. Gardening
The Way of the Garden
Gardens and Meaning
‘In the Head’ and ‘In the Hands’
Garden, ‘Gift’, Mystery
8. Living with Mystery
Ethics
Removing Obstacles
Humility and Compassion
Emulation
9. In a Garden Again
Index
