I’ve spent several hours writing a post, but Voltaire says it so much better…
This is Voltaire who said in Candide, ‘tending one’s own garden is not only a private activity but also productive’.
With thanks to Annette for the quote. As she says, and I paraphrase, this may not solve our troubled world however it gives some quiet space to think and reflect.
And the ‘garden’, our life lived is a Bodhsattvas playground. Endless opportunities to stretch out a hand, open one’s mind.
I think my studio has become my “garden”. A place to quietly reflect while drawing or sculpting. A bodhisattva’s playground indeed.
Voltaire is also credited with ‘if you want to converse with me first define your terms’. A very good starting point I think.
Over the past 18 months, we have carefully ‘un-tended’ our garden, encouraging traditional native flowers and herbs (also known as weeds, but beautiful in their own right) and planting more that are particularly delicious for bees, hoverflies, butterflies, wasps etc. This summer we could sit, surrounded by that happy hum of joyful, bustling insect life. Almost like monastic chanting, all around us. Wonderful.