Dreams are shores where the ocean of spirit meets the land of matter. Dreams are beaches where the yet-to-be, the once-were, the will-never-be may walk awhile with the still-are.
David MitchellRead
…and there, in the background, the sky’s sediment had sunk to a place where all the woe of the words ‘I am’ dissolved into blue peace. He said it. ‘The ocean.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a sense of tranquility that comes from self-acceptance and the vastness of nature.
In this quote, David Mitchell captures a profound moment of realization where the burdens and struggles of identity and existence ('I am') fade away, replaced by a sense of serene peace symbolized by the ocean and the expansive sky. The imagery evokes an understanding that amidst life's challenges, there exists an overarching calm, suggesting that acceptance of oneself can lead to inner tranquility and connection with the natural world.
Themes
PeaceSelf-AcceptanceNatureTranquilityOcean
In practice
Example use cases
During a meditation session, I reflected on the beauty of nature using this quote.
More from David Mitchell
All quotes →The Revelation of Sonmi 451 To be is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on and are pushing themselves throughout all time. - Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.
David MitchellRead
How vulgar, this hankering after immortality, how vain, how false. Composers are merely scribblers of cave paintings. One writes music because winter is eternal and because, if one didn't, the wolves and blizzards would be at one's throat all the sooner.
David MitchellRead
. . .my dreams are the single unpredictable factor in my zoned days and nights. Nobody allots them, or censors them. Dreams are all I have ever truly owned.
David MitchellRead
My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?
David MitchellRead
Human beings need to watch out for reasonless niceness too. It's never reasonless and its reason's not usually nice.
David MitchellRead
Similar quotes
The ocean of Spirit has become the little bubble of my soul. Whether floating in birth, or disappearing in death, in the ocean of cosmic awareness the bubble of my life cannot die. I am indestructible consciousness, protected in the bosom of Spirit’s immortality.
Paramahansa YoganandaRead
He who learns death unlearns slavery.
Cornel WestRead
If space is infinite, we may be at any point in space. If time is infinite, we may be at any point in time.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
A good traveller is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveller does not know where he came from.
Lin YutangRead
Consciousness is an emergent, contingent, and impermanent phenomenon. It has no magical capacity to break free from the field of events out of which it springs.
Stephen BatchelorRead
Why, I can't help wondering, is God thought to need such ferocious defence? One might have supposed him amply capable of looking after himself.
Richard DawkinsRead