Tilling the Brain, Farming the Soul
“Today we have lost the healing effect from that precious medicinal capsule which is our religious teachings” (Taniguchi, Bump 769). While it hurts me to think about Taniguchi’s statement, I believe it to be true. There is so much to distract us from thinking clearly nowadays that our senses cry out to be focused upon. We have homework, personal issues, extracurricular activities, and a thousand other things to balance our team between, so more often than not religion can be set aside for later. Since moving to Austin, I have not attended church once, though there is a Disciples of Christ fellowship right past the South Mall on 21st Street. It even bears the same name as my church back home. Yet I find it increasingly difficult to find time to focus on my religion, let alone actually make it to church on Sundays. My brain is always thinking about two million things besides religion. Yet it seems odd to be that we might neglect the one thing that brings calm to the chaos.
Something about a garden – with or without a religious affiliation – that makes an impression upon the visitor. My church in Fort Worth has a prayer garden, and I live within walking distance of the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. I always enjoyed running down past the Stockyards to make a few passes through the Botanical Gardens before it got dark.
Though I wasn’t stopping to enjoy my surroundings necessarily, just passing through imbued with me some feeling of peace. So while meditation or another calming activity can be good for the soul, I think that the garden’s most powerful attribute is its image. Why else would running through the Botanical Gardens be so soothing? I wouldn’t stop to smell any flowers or feel the grass on my bare feet. The power of perception is what calms me down. Taniguchi writes that “the perception results from an inner communion between the spirit of the observer and the spirit of the picture” (Taniguchi, Bump, 769). There must be a good reason we attach pictures and other visual rhetoric to our writings; what pleases the eye pleases the soul. While the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth are not designed with any Christian undertones, the feeling of peace that I get visiting the place allows me to reevaluate things on my mind. Something typically cast aside in my thought process can suddenly be drawn to the front for reflection. Especially in a prayer or memorial garden, my surroundings offer me the chance to put less important things on hold for a moment and focus on what really matters in life.
