Where have the white cranes gone?

Have you had experiences of glancing up at the evening sky and be stunned by the beauty of a sunset; or glancing out of the window at night and feeling your entire being melted by the light of a full moon; or looking across a valley and see a poem unfolding in front of your eyes as a casual flock of white cranes taking flight across before vanishing into the distance?

Whatever the circumstance is, the stirring created in your soul happens spontaneously, without expecting, without planning, without contriving on your part. The subjective mind which is normally analytical, inquisitive is rendered completely submissive, passive and receptive. At such moment, there is no division, no separation between the observer and what is being observed. You are not there as an witness of the beauty being revealed at that moment, you are part of it.
If, on the other hand, you stop to think about what you are seeing and trying to attach attributes to the beauty with words, concepts or ideas ...At that moment, you disengage yourself from it all and it won't be the same anymore. In other words, you lose that sense of beauty. For instance, you saw the flock of white crane drifting across the valley before disappearing into the clouds in the distance; but instead of just staying with that moment, you start to wonder 'where have the cranes gone' and even go as far as jumping into your car in an attempt to follow the cranes, you've ruined that perfect picture once and for all!
To experience the beauty and wonders that nature throw up from moment to moment, we do not need to find out every single detail. We do not need to know how many trees there are in a forest in order to enjoy a walk along the winding path among its lush trees. We do not need to know the name of a certain type of plant to appreciate the beauty of the flowers it produces; we do not need to find a name for a certain method of meditation in order to render the mind quiet and still. Names and naming are a result of an analytical mind; they separate, divide and categorise. They create frames and compartments which shatter the wholeness and fullness of experiences. Alan Watts sums it up really well with the following observation:-

      The natural world therefore reveals its content, its fullness of wonder, when respect hinders us from investigating it in such a way as to shatter it to abstractions. If I must cross every skyline to find out what is beyond, I shall never appreciate the true depth of sky seen between trees upon the ridge of a hill. If I must map the canyons and count the trees, I shall never enter into the sound of a hidden waterfall. If I must explore and investigate every trail, that path which vanishes into the forest far up on the mountainside will be found at last to lead merely back to the suburbs. To the mind which pursues every road to its end, every road leads nowhere. To abstain is not to postpone the cold disillusionment of the true facts but to see that one arrives by staying rather than going, that to be forever looking beyond is to remain blind to what is here. (Nature, Man & Woman)