But if you do know what is taught by plants and weather, you are in on the gossip and can feel truly at home. The sum of a field's forces [become] what we call very loosely the 'spirit of the place.' To know the spirit of a place is to realize that you are a part of a part and that the whole is made or parts, each of which in a whole. You start with the part you are whole in. Gary Snyder
About This Quote

In this quote, Henry David Thoreau explains that when we know the spirit of a place, we understand that we are a part of a larger whole. Like a field, each person is a part of a greater whole. We can only realize our unique role in the world if we pay attention to the things around us. We see the world from our own perspective and not from the larger perspective.

Source: The Gary Snyder Reader, Volume 1: Prose, Poetry And Translations 19521998

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