The benefits of tending a garden

We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden ~ Joni Mitchell, Woodstock

The root and origin of the word paradise is the garden, which when I begin to contemplate the similarities and connections it comes as no surprise. There is a feeling of ease, peace and beauty associated with these places, both literal and figurative. Nature, with all her blossoming fruit, bears infinite glory from which we may benefit.  

While some gardens are lush like a jungle others are desiccated, surviving perfectly below an arid sky. Both beckon you to come in close, walk slowly, and participate in a quite yet dynamic conversation of the senses. 

Even in extremes the places can imbue an experience of magnificence and ease. I think everyone would benefit from tending a garden, even if it’s a few plants. For in this space, a pleasurable place where the natural world and people intersect, peace and equanimity is seeded.

The etymology goes back to Iranian Farsi, the Persian culture and language, meaning an enclosed place or a sanctuary. The sanctuary is often cultivated with fruiting trees, blossoms, fountains, etc. It becomes a replica of and ode to nature so that access and pleasure is unencumbered. Here in the garden we rest, gather, and celebrate.

In my studies of Asian architecture, design and art, for centuries humans created and re-imagined the garden as a place of paradise. The garden was and is sacred – the quintessence of beauty and balance.  

From China to Japan, Iran to Laos, India to Turkey, the garden was a way in which one could be intimate with the natural world. Therefore, it’s of no coincidence that we are called to cultivate, map, and tend gardens, for in doing so we recall the inborn desire for living in paradise.