人類非常容易落入目的性行為的想法裡：「我想要這個，因此我要得到它。」「我需要這個。」「我得做那件事。」「如果我不這樣做的話，就會發生不好的事，然後我就會死掉。」這些都是哺乳動物意識裡常見的論調。心靈的練習是（當然，其他人類文化中的重要特色也是）一組技巧，讓人避免因為毫不質疑而受制於專斷的心智。這樣的練習讓我們可以退一步四處觀察，看看事物的本來面貌，以更廣大的整體視野，來理解其中局部的想法、衝動、概念。藝術也一樣，而且藝術在人類生活中扮演一個可能和心靈不無關連的角色。這兩者都在阻斷你的哺乳動物習性，讓你能夠張大眼睛和耳朵，來觀察、瞭解你的生活。
– Jane Hirshfield（當代美國詩人）
Art & Spiritual Practice
Human beings fall rather easily into the consciousness of purposeful action: “I want this, so I will go get it.” “I need this.” “I have to do that.” “If I don’t do this, something bad will happen and I will die.” Such is the basic murmur of mammalian consciousness. Spiritual practices (along with other basic lineaments of human culture, of course) are in part a set of techniques to free a person from unquestioning enslavement to that imperative mind. They allow us to look around, to step back and see things as they are, to apprehend thoughts, impulses, concepts as part of the larger whole. Art does this as well, and art plays a role in a human life that is probably not unrelated to spiritual ritual. Both stop you in your mammalian tracks and let you see and know your life through larger eyes and ears.
– Jane Hirshfield