Letter (2016.034.0307)

Handwritten letter in ink pen on legal pad paper. “The world is with you, Orlando. Love from Toronto” is written at the top. The letter says, “If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees can-not grow; and without trees, we can-not make paper. If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. Without sun-shine, the forest cannot grow. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see wheat. The logger cannot exist with-out his daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. The logger’s mother and father are in it too. Looking even more deeply, we can see ourselves in this sheet of paper too, it is part of our perception. Your mind is in here and mine is also. So we can say that everything is in here with this sheet of paper- time, space, the earth, the rain, the minerals in the soil, the sun-shine, the could, the river, the heat. Every-thing co-exists with this sheet of paper. We cannot just be by ourselves alone. We have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because every-thing else is. -Thich Nhat Hanh.”

Canada, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Memorial, International Reaction, Letters, Public Reaction, Toronto

• Object ID: 2016.034.0307
• Collection Site: Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
• Collection Date: 06/28/2016
• Size: 10.75H X 8.375W