Greetings from Cambridge, good people. Katharine and I continue to revel in the garden that is England. In just four weeks things have changed remarkably. The vista from our window onto the Jesus College Green is now obscured by the new foliage of spring. The wisteria, which climbs just about every wall in Cambridge, is almost in full bloom. Tulips and iris abound. Ceanothus shimmers its iridescent blue like lapis lazuli spilled from some antic desert caravan. We’ll miss the roses here, but just seeing the profusion of buds engenders a sense of the beauty that most surely will be.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, arguably the greatest of twentieth century philosophers, whose simple grave we visited yesterday, speaks of the garden as metaphor for reality. He’s not the first to make such an observation, but his emphasis is not so much on the garden itself… its evolving beauty, its multiplicity, its reflection of the change of seasons, its fragility. His emphasis instead is on the gardener, the one who plants the seeds, the one who pulls the weeds, spreads the mulch, prunes the trees; the one who bears the mystery of pattern, of preconceived guesses in her very soul… the one who articulates that mystery into beauty and surprise… and failure. By nature, gardeners are generous; they are eager to share their secrets… and plants, and cuttings… their skilled labor. They are resilient and courageous, undaunted by the garden’s caprice…. They are master improvisors; and they are loyal and committed. They will sacrifice most anything for the garden’s well-being and life. At most, they are grateful.
The world, the universe entire, is mere potential and possibility becoming conscious process: The multiform world flowing from the soul of the One, in increments, in moments, by surprise, by the labor of love. The end is not the thing. The process is; the process articulated into being in the imaginative grammar of beauty. Study your grammar, good people, and speak eloquently of a world that might be.
Hi. I would love to go to some of the universities in England–especially Oxford because of Endeavor. Glad you both are getting to see it.
Brenda
Hi Jim and Kathryn,
Can almost feel England in your writing Jim and this time you are writing about our dear Kathryn!!
The Gardner Extraordinaire! The heat is upon us , with the afternoon showers but that is fun in the yard chasing the shade and the clock when the rains begin. We miss you all but the fort is doing well with Bob and Mary and crew!!! My grandson, Nathan, will be coming over to England as part of a school fellowship for the summer. He is in the Business School at the University of Colorado (My Alma Mater!)as a Junior and studying Journalism. Not sure what the fellowship will be about but he is so excited and a talented writer and Photographer so I imagine he will get everything out of it possible!!! He definitely has that Imagination that stirs the soul!!
After Cambridge, where will you be off too?? Hugs to you both, Bill and Gail