The poetics of flowing water and the art of immersion

Abstract

“Poetics of Flowing Water and the Art of Immersion” comprises a full-length manuscript of poems called Living on the Verge and an exegesis on the subject of water and themes related to it. The poems are organized in three sections with different focuses: flowing water and its representations; people and the world in time of changes; and dreams and reflections in the name of the future. Lyrical or narrative, abstract or confessional, these poems as a whole echo and supplement my ponderings on water. The exegesis aims to offer a glimpse into flowing water – as pure image, as object and phenomenon in perception, and as embodiment of wisdoms associated with everyday life. The first three chapters of the exegesis are structured according to those three themes, followed by two studies that further their explication with specific contexts and examples: the first, in terms of self-nourishment and cultivation of a number of literary figures; the second, in terms of grappling with one’s own ephemerality, recalling the common dilemma of humanity. The practice of the art of immersion as such is a derivation from the very thought of flowing water; it aims to construct a creative life by seeking and embracing alternative states of being beyond conventions and the constrictive force of habit. The theoretical references of the exegesis are multiple, with emphasis on certain Daoist and Zen Buddhist positions, complemented by a range of contemporary Western theories. These positions and perspectives are employed to be mutually illuminating, to benefit a synthetic mode of thinking that fits the simultaneously empirical and metaphysical nature of flowing water, and in a profound sense, our very life.

Date of Thesis submission	2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University