What would your own personal Garden of Eden be like, what would it look like?
This week, Blisschick invited us on an enCouragingBliss quest to make an image of what this happy place would be for us. The collage above is mine.
What this place represents to me is sanctuary. A retreat to trees and water, to the magic of the natural world, to beauty, to books and to writing. A retreat to the silence of a remote cottage somewhere that has lived in my imagination for as long as I can remember.
‘Retreat’ means different things. In battle, retreat often means defeat. But it can also mean gathering strength to fight again.
Now I’m not big on martial terminology. It leads to a martial mindset. There’s a little poem by Wendell Berry called The Ongoing Holy War against Evil:
Stop the Killing, or
I’ll Kill you, you
God-damned murderer!
But I think this retreating to ‘fight’ again is an important concept. Christ retreated from the crowds to embrace solitude and quiet. All people of spiritual stature have done the same. The concept is reflected in the Benedictine duty of hospitality. It’s all a question of balance.
How do you retreat?
Click here to see a larger size of the image above.
The collage process:
I went through my ever-growing collection of magazine snippings to find images that spoke to me, without thinking about it too much. Then I went through a process of paring down and fitting together. This didn’t quite give me everything I wanted, so I ended up scanning the images into the computer, playing with effects and using the combination of physical and digital collage you see above.
Elsewhere:
Endlessly Restless combines a beautiful photograph with wisdom from van Gogh in A Ray from On High, and OxHerding uses a very funny picture to ask a very important question in Right View Part I.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Tess, thank you for the kind comment you left on my blog.
Your collage is lovely. We have many things in common. My birthday is in September, too!
This is an intriguing and magical collage!
Fantastic collage, the moon makes it all come together somehow!
I love the rabbit as a mere, uninvolved passerby!
On stillness I follow this…
Tao Te Ching – Chapter 48
(an unusual translation (1922) by Isabella Mears [Scottish]
who was a pioneer in becoming a medical doctor in the early
20th c. when medical schools usually did not admit women.
Also married and had kids, so she was certainly active!)
—
By activity in learning we are daily enriched.
By activity of Tao we are daily diminished,
diminished and yet more diminished,
until we arrive at activity of Inner Life,
and activity of Inner Life becomes
stillness of Inner Life.
By the practice of Inner Life stillness
we can continually conquer all things.
By the practice of returning to possessions,
nothing that we conquer will be
sufficient for us.
—
Mears comments:
“An illustration of activity in stillness is in the spinning of a top. At its greatest speed there is most apparent stillness, and we say the top is then ‘asleep.’”
Tess, Your images spoke volumes to my heart…Springtime can be difficult for me with all the suddenly added activity and noise. Where were all these people in the winter, I find myself wondering, and why have they come out now? I start thinking about life in some very remote spot, away from the hustle and bustle and car alarms and screaming children (and parents) and just the insanity of people in warming sun.
I know your image really resides INSIDE you, but sometimes I want the concrete, material version!
tess–i found myself go “ahhhhh” as i witnessed your collage. i can see you in that cottage surrounded by bunnies, butterflies and books.
lovely just as you are. xooxox
What a beautiful and peaceful Eden you’ve created! Thank you for sharing it. I’ve enjoyed visiting your blog and will visit again.
@Tracy – glad to see another September birthday – lucy who also commented is September as well. All the best people…!!
@Emma – thank you, I really enjoyed the process of arriving at it.
@kigen – I love this analogy with the spinning top. There’s something also about the martial arts concept of “mind like water” – ripples caused by a stone thrown into a still pool of water will always be exactly right to meet the force of the stone, no more, no less, and will subside immediately the stone sinks.
@blisschick – confession: yes, I too want the concrete material thing not just the image inside me.
@lucy – I realised afterwards – no cats! But then they would chase the bunny…
@Pamela – thank you for visiting and for your lovely comment.
I just want to stay in the loveliness of it all.
Thank you.
claire, thank you very much for this comment and the one on my ‘Seven Days’ post.
Oh, a lovely garden. I would love to stay and play in the garden!
that looks like such a fun place to be!!