Teachings of a Zen Gardener

Written by Laura A. Sosnowski - 7 Comments
Categories: philosophy

pink orchidsOur group of neighbors meets occasionally over coffee and cupcakes. I don’t remember the subject, but on this occasion our gardening expert had his turn to speak. The talk was related to love, and his view was that love involved giving.

As his example, he took the flowers of summer. They produce their seeds, containing the essence of themselves, and give them away. They send the seeds out into the world without any certainty of how many will land on fertile soil and sprout. They send their seeds out without knowing whether their efforts will be welcome or appreciated.

I’m unable to capture the effect this comparison had on members of the group. It was a profound insight into how we toil in all humility, without knowing if any of our efforts will be appreciated or welcome, or if any will land on fertile soil.

And yet we plug away day by day, week by week, with a small and not too sure faith that we are building something greater than ourselves.

The following week, our gardener friend brought in samples of seeds from his yard and garden. The bean seeds were interesting to look at. They were twisted, dried up husks that had split open. He explained that the husks twisted as they dried so that the seeds would spill out, hopefully planting themselves to lie dormant over winter, waiting for another spring.

He compared this to the stresses of life that make us twist and turn, but force us to relinquish and reveal our inner gifts.

We haven’t had any more homey show and tell programs since then, but it sure makes you look differently at the common seed.

This post was written for PickTheBrain by Laura A. Sosnowski

  • http://www.outfitinspirations.com SimoneM

    Hi Laura,
    Great post. We can get all twisted up with self-analysis and internal debate in the world of self development, so I love the way you have gone back to the basics of nature to relate such an important point. Spring is all around us in my home town and it seems a great time to be de-stressing and sending my best efforts out into the world.
    S.

  • http://www.pickthebrain.com John Wesley

    I agree, Simone. I really enjoyed this post as well. There’s something poetic about it.

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  • http://comebackpluto.blogspot.com marc

    I’ve never been a fan of nature and animal anecdotes when it comes to the way we should live life. These seem a little too cheesy, and when you really think about it, the same could be said about anything. Reading into anything and interpreting it into anything means nothing. I can take the workings of a machine and compare it to life. Would people be just intrigued if the article were not about flowers and about penises and vaginas instead? Where the penis has to work hard and fill with blood to ejaculate millions of sperm into the hostile environment of the vagina not knowing which of the millions of sperm make it to the egg… if any survive the acidic nature of the vagina. I mean, come on. Articles like these are for the unhappy and dissatisfied. “Work hard, you never know where it will make an impact.” If I were a boss, that’s what I’d tell my employees to keep them productive. It’s like ugly people who say beauty is really on the inside.

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