Some years ago I wrote my first blog. That was in 2015 and this is the first occasion I am writing on social media since then. One of the factors which prompted me to do so was a question posed by a lady who was attending a talk I was giving about the spirituality of gardens in June 2018 in which I had made a reference to the trouble afflicting the human condition, in particular the conflicts which have resulted in the deaths and suffering of so many people here in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world; also the damage suffered by Planet Earth. This lady asked what could be done to alleviate such issues. A childhood memory immediately flashed into my mind of my mother rebuking me for some misdemeanor and saying, when naughty thoughts entered my mind I must say firmly: “Get thee behind me Satan!” That is how I answered the question, meaning of course, that we should entertain only positive thoughts and eliminate all negative thoughts from our minds, or put another way, the uprooting of noxious weeds from the garden of our minds.
It is a predominance of such noxious weeds in the garden of our minds which lay at the root of all human suffering and by extension, the suffering of the planet. In other words, Satan rules. So what is the answer? I say Love is the answer; for that is what I know from personal experience to be at the heart of creation. In further blogs I shall elaborate on how this Love may be experienced, though as a start I recommend following my mum’s advice and banish every negative thought, replacing it with its opposite. By this simple method, which is akin to slowly displacing a pale of dirty water with clean water; gradually in time, one’s inclination will be to naturally entertain only positive, life-supporting thoughts and these will lead to a much happier life. Planet Earth will benefit, for our natural inclination will be to work with Nature rather than against her, thereby creating a veritable paradise on earth.
Though I say above that the method of banishing negative thoughts is simple, in the early days of the practice at least, it is by no means easy, for negative thoughts will persistently clamor for attention; however, one must be equally persistent in ejecting them as hostile intruders, forces of Satan no less.
That realm of Love which I say underlies Creation and which I know from personal experience, I try to reflect through the design of gardens. I feel deeply that I am in the service of that realm and have begun to write about it in relation to gardens and landscapes; also importantly as a counterpoint to the negativity in the world.
I will elaborate on these topics in future blogs, though my next blog will relate to promoting a book I have written entitled Three Gardens, so until then…
God bless you
John
