It should be noted that a great number of the mystics of East and West were poets, artists, lovers of beauty. One could mention the psalmist and the prophet Isaiah. One could speak of God's troubadour, St. Francis. One could speak of the poet who composed the Heart Sutra, and of Basho and Ryokan. One could speak of innumerable Zen teachers who mastered the art of calligraphy and artistically practiced the tea ceremony. All these were lovers of natural beauty.
— William Johnston, Mystical Theology