Meditation 14: 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.