Desert Notes Quotes

“This is the only time you can study both of your shadows. If you sit perfectly still and watch your primary shadow as the sun sets you will be able to hold it long enough to see your other shadow fill up when the moon rises like a porcelain basin with clear water. If you turn carefully to face the south you may regard both of them: to understand the nature of silence you must be able to see into this space between your shadows.”
― Barry López, Desert Notes: Reflections in the Eye of a Raven / River Notes: The Dance of Herons

“there are no crows in the desert. What appear to be crows are ravens. You must examine the crow, however, before you can understand the raven. To forget the crow completely, as some have tried to do, would be like trying to understand the one who stayed without talking to the one who left. It is important to make note of who has left the desert.”
― Barry López, Desert Notes: Reflections in the Eye of a Raven / River Notes: The Dance of Herons

“After you have finished with the stone, the twigs and beetle, other things will suggest themselves, and you must take care of them. I see you are already tired. But you must stay. This is the pain of it all. You can't keep leaving.”
― Barry López, Desert Notes: Reflections in the Eye of a Raven / River Notes: The Dance of Herons