Senses of Mystery

David E. Cooper is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Durham University. He has been a Visiting Professor at universities in several countries, including the USA and Sri Lanka. His many books include The Measure of Things: Humanism, Humility and Mystery, A Philosophy of Gardens and Convergence with Nature: A Daoist Perspective.

"Cultivation of a sense of mystery has venerable precedent in ancient spiritual traditions, and runs through modern writings on animals, gardens, nature, art, and music. In this personal, humane book, David E. Cooper describes the rhythms and tones of a life shaped by mystery. Gathering the wisdom of sages, composers, gardeners, nature lovers, and others, this book reveals the ways that reflective appreciation of creatures, places, and practices can reveal the depth and mystery that underlies human life."Ian James Kidd, University of Nottingham, UK"This world is, indeed, one vast mystery, containing only, here and there, a few scattered islands of human knowledge. Past philosophers have not attended enough to this paradoxical situation, but Cooper now does so. We had better read him." Mary Midgley, Emeritus Professor, Newcastle University, UK."Senses of Mystery is a superb book – inspiring, beautifully written and packed with insights about a remarkably wide range of topics, from meditative walking to the mystery of existence. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand what it means to live in harmony with the natural world."Simon P. James, Durham University, UK"This book is a gentle and beautiful evocation of the well lived human life, and the role of familiar practices such as listening to music, walking and gardening in leading us into a transformed appreciation of the everyday world. In Cooper’s hands, philosophical reflection has become a spiritual practice."Mark Wynn, University of Leeds, UK"This is an elegant and clear little volume that while rooted in western philosophy and literature draws strongly on Daoist and Buddhist thought," in Resurgence and Ecologist, 2018."David E. Cooper, is one of the most outstanding philosophers of recent times. It’s hard to think of another figure who better combines erudition with rigor of thought and argument...Every philosopher should read this book, indeed every thoughtful person should, for it addresses and attempts to answer the question of what it is fundamentally like for us to be in the world and what we are to make of the strangeness of existence." - John Shand, ‘The Strange Business of Being in the World’, Los Angeles Review of Books, April 6 2018.

• Acknowledgements1. In a Garden2. The Truth of MysteryIneffabilityThe Scientific ImageThe World as Fiction?The World as Gift3. Religion, Nature and MysteryReligion, Faith and Mystery‘Nothing Special’Senses of MysteryNature and Culture4. AnimalsAnimal WorldsThe Opacity of AnimalsAnimals, Mystery and WorldAnimals and ‘The Open’5. MusicMusic and ExperienceMusic and NatureMusic, Culture, EnvironmentMusic and the Mystery of Emergence6. WalkingMeditation on the MoveBody, Mind and InvolvementCommunion and HolismWalking and Senses of Mystery7. GardeningThe Way of the GardenGardens and Meaning‘In the Head’ and ‘In the Hands’Garden, ‘Gift’, Mystery8. Living with MysteryEthicsRemoving ObstaclesHumility and CompassionEmulation9. In a Garden AgainIndex