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 Mason's
Meditations
If
you're looking for something to chew over, some thoughtful seeds
for mental cultivation, bookmark this page for Jeff Mason's fortnightly
meditations. To think in or take away...
Number
Fifteen: Paradise Now
Of
all the fragments of ancient wisdom that have come down to us, few
are more known or less understood than the thought that paradise
lies within us, if only we have eyes to see it. This is supposed
to have a beauty rarely matched by the beauties that surround us
in nature. Of course, the mean streets of our decayed urban areas,
the miles of commercial development and housing tracts are not suggestive
of paradise. The poor people who live there probably would not claim
to be living in one. Yet if it is in our grasp, we must be able
to seize it even there.
Now
think of the other end of the economic ladder. Here are the people
who can afford to surround themselves with beautiful houses and
gardens. Surely, it will be in a garden that we find paradise. Take
a drive to the leafier suburbs, look at the wonderful gardens, the
trees, the mansions set back from the road.
The
ancient Greek word "paradeisos" means "parkland." The word was used
to describe the land set aside for beauty and ease by Persian kings,
separated by walls from wild nature and crop lands. Here you would
find enchanting vistas down winding avenues, reflecting pools, fountains,
statues, and flowering trellises to protect you from the sun. In
the English variant, we find follies, the ruins of antique temples,
gothic churches and Saxon watch towers. It was meant to be picturesque,
and consciously designed to lead the eye a merry dance.
The
idea is that to be surrounded by beauty calls forth a power to recognize
it, and this, in turn, leads to the ennobling of the soul. Yet just
because a person lives surrounded by natural beauty does not ensure
the appreciation of paradise. To see natural beauty as paradise
is partly what it means to find paradise within oneself. And there
is paradise for anyone who can respond to natural beauty this way,
even for those who live in unlikely places. The amazing thing is
that there is so much beauty around us, and nothing but our own
preoccupations and desires prevent us from seeing it. Paradise can
be a small room with a view (or a shack) if it is a place where
one is happy. The most beautiful garden is not paradise if the inhabitants
are unhappy or too busy to appreciate it.
Mason's
Meditations will next be updated mid-October 2001
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Previous
Meditations
14.
(1st
August 2001)
13.
(1st July 2001)
12. (1st
June 2001)
11.
(1st May 2001)
10.
(1st April 2001)
9. (16th March 2001)
8. (1st
March 2001)
7.
(15th February 2001)
6.
(1st February 2001)
5. (15th
January 2001)
4. (1st
January 2001)
3.
(15th December 2000)
2.
(1st December 2000)
1. (15th November
2000)
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