Bird Philosophy

Why do human beings dream of flying? Not in airplanes or helicopters, but on their own—effortlessly, weightlessly, the way we do in sleep? The question “Why don’t we fly like birds?” sounds like something a child might ask on a summer afternoon, but it turns out to be one of the oldest and most persistent riddles of human existence. It is a question not merely about missing wings or inadequate muscles, but about the strange mismatch between the freedom we imagine and the bodies we inhabit.

Exploring the relationship between Christianity and Zen, especially through his dialogue with the great Zen teacher D.T. Suzuki, the book makes an excellent introduction to a comparative study of these two traditions, as well as giving the listener a strong taste of the mature Merton. Never does one feel him losing his own faith; rather, one feels that faith getting deeply clarified and affirmed. Just as the body of "Zen" cannot be found by the scavengers, so too, Merton suggests, with the eternal truth of Christ.

The Bird and the Elephant is a poetic philosophical journey that starts with a chance encounter between and a bird and (that's right, you guessed it!) an elephant. Join their journey as they step through the jungle talking their way through 10 philosophical subjects.