Basho On Poetry
… winding down to the end of The Essential Haiku…
The basis of art is change in the universe. What’s still has changeless form. Moving things change, and because we cannot put a stop to time, it continues unarrested. To stop a thing would be to halve a sight or sound in our heart. Cherry blossoms whirl, leaves fall, and the wind flits them both along the ground. We cannot arrest with our eyes or ears what lies in such things. Were we to gain mastery over them, we would find that the life of each thing had vanished without a trace.1
Poetry is a fireplace in summer or a fan in winter.2
… Basho promoting Panpsychism?…
Every form of insentient existence—plants, stones, or utensils—has its individual feelings similar to those of men3
… Learn from the Pine has a lot of wisdom… it comforts me because in general, i follow its proscriptions, not perfectly, not even admirably, but i follow them as best i can…