The Garden of Man | CULTIVATION is the Meaning of Life | A Symbolic Orientation for the Individual
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 23 апр 2021
- In a world of extremes, the ancient symbol of the garden represents the ideal balance between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ where the individual flourishes and grows. The garden is nature that is not wholly wild, a walled-off, tamed wilderness where you can live with mitigated fear and danger, and without being burnt out, consumed by stress, anxiety, and depression like people who are always hustling and networking and climbing the social ladder.
These two facets of cultivation and guardianship are presented as the purpose of human beings by texts like the Hebrew Bible-the meta purpose which encompasses all other aims and goals. The purpose of human life is cultivate: to organize and nurture Being into a state of becoming, for the sake of its own flourishing.
John Milton’s famous extra-biblical poetization of the Genesis events in Paradise Lost, presents the work of Adam and Eve in this way:
“On to their morning’s rural work they haste
Among sweet dews and flow’rs; where any row
Of fruit-trees overwoody reached too far
Their pampered bows, and needed hands to check
Fruitless embraces: they led the vine
To wed her elm; she spoused about him twines
Her marriageable arms, and with her brings
Her dow’r the adopted clusters, to adorn
His barren leaves.” (Paradise Lost, V.215-219)
Marriage in Paradise Lost is a concept that goes far beyond the man and woman and sinks its metaphorical roots into the natural world, where man and woman are to act as kinds of priests or pastors of nature, cultivating nature by uniting its disparate elements-on the principle that fruitfulness, growth, and new birth only spring from a kind of union.
Our actions and lives feel meaningful primarily when they have this ineffable sense of fullness, or dare we say, pregnancy. We are only satisfied when we see our lives bearing some kind of fruit, whatever we take that to mean, whether it be a string of consequences that have positive ramifications, making art, having children, or making some mark on the world. We have a fundamental intuitive understanding of the concept of fruitfulness: of growing as opposed to withering, of phenomena that carry on life, reproducing rather than fading-of thoughts, words, and actions that nourish and strengthen as opposed to weakening.
Through cultivation, and guidance, and wisdom we seek to make ourselves and the things around us fruitful, nourishing, reproductive, eternal. Long before modern biology, Aristotle speculated that the reason we want to have children is because we have an instinct for immortality. “For any living thing that has reached its normal development and which is unmutilated… the most natural act is the production of another like itself… in order that, as far as nature allows, it may partake in the eternal and divine. That is the goal towards which all things strive, that for the sake of which they do whatever their nature renders possible.” On the Soul, 415a25-415b1.
The goal of life should be to establish a garden, firstly, in the metaphorical sense, viewing your life as something to cultivate, but also looking to unselfishly cultivate the world around you.
Instagram: / empire_of_the_mind
Facebook: / empire-of-the-mind-102...
Patreon: / empireofthemind
![Megan Thee Stallion - Otaku Hot Girl [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/USxIYOaIpig/mqdefault.jpg)
Your videos are like sitting at the intersection of church, a philosophy lecture at a university, and on a comfy couch with a thoughtful friend. Thank you for making these videos. They enrich my day and my life. 🤓😇😉
Over the past 24 hours you have become my favorite RUclips channel. God bless you for your love of liberty and beautiful articulation of beauty
I work in a National Trust garden in the UK once a week every week. Each time it resets something in myself that cannot be done by any other means. I find it's the greatest therapy.
"We must cultivate our garden". This is the main conclusion of a philosophical novel that almost every young french reads in school: Candide by Voltaire.
Absolutely love your channel. I don't know a better way to phrase it than just intellectual satiation.
Well said.
My eldest son just had a child, and I have forwarded this to him for his consideration. Well done and thank you.
With gratitude ..... for the wisdom and beauty.
I truly believe this is the answer. The selflessness, diligence, patience, and hope in potential when tending to the metaphorical garden is truly a purpose that seems perfectly intended for humanity to reach, because reaching it takes a willingness to learn all of the things to obtain a garden sustained. I especially loved how this garden idea was brought back to Eden on Genesis, and how that was the true intention. This inclines me further to see the Christian faith as the truth, because things like that seem so deeply profound that it seems divinely depicted for the souls of us as humans
This channel is a hidden gem. So glad i found it. I can see your channel blowing up. Keep it up man.
Thanks so very much. I am a 64 year old physician. I have cultivated and lived in my garden. I sent this to my daughter and her husband. Knowing these truths in one's heart doesn't mean one can communicate them. This vid communicates something I true.
love the visuals for these videos. All the paintings are matching the topic discussed so well!
The Idea of Eternity springs from the Nature of the Soul, wich is Sat-Cit-Ananda.
This Therm is from the ancient Sanskrit and means Eternal-Full of Knowlegde or Awareness-and Bliss/Enjoyment.
The teaching is, that the Soul shares this Qualities with the Divine Supreme Being - GOD, because it is part and parcel of HIM.
This leads to another Therm, namely Acyntia-Bedabeda-Tattva. ...
But for here and now I would like to leave it like this.
The best of Wishes to You!!
... and keep on doing this nice Work here! 🤗😎
We have an organic orchard which is diversified in its fruits. We take these fruits to the public market and sell. We revel in the joy of the people who appreciate our efforts and the sweetness of our fruit. There is something about sharing what your create and discuss with others the insight of effort. In essence, we live in the orchard away from everyone and yet go to the city and experience the urban culture.
Seeing new life in a garden or anywhere is an amazing thing. The time of production and death are also thought provoking. Really miraculous if you think about it.
I have no idea why YouTub recommended me this video but I'm glad it did
"I've reduced the world to my garden and now I see the intensity of all that exists." José Ortega y Gasset. A wonderful channel and one my favorite quotes to add on the theme of this video. Looking forward to part II (feels like you might be stepping into Emerson and Thoreau territory. Fingers crossed :))
Look at your surroundings like soil full of potential? What an incredible way to look at the world. Another killer video, thank you
Bravo, and Molto Grazie! It's also the main gripe with the 'Climate 'Deniers'... not the science or the opposing 'facts', but that it regards Nature as just something to be plundered and exploited, instead of coming at it as a 'custodian' and caretaker... aka, a 'gardener'.
Or as Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand 'sez, "'We Are as Gods, and Might as Well *_Get_* Good at It."
Gardening is a very meditative thing, I have spent many years building up my garden to be a food forest that mixes with decretive and edible plants that support each other. Great way to free the mind while you work on simple tasks, and the end product is tasty ... In the end it is a very good way to disconnect from the modern world and find a calm space to clear ones head.
Keep going! Keep going! This channel is so good. Your incorporation of philosophy, history, theology and art is so seamless.
As someone who cultivates the earth, I appreciate the application of the concept of stewardship and cultivation to all we touch: human; garden; and animal life of this earth.
It was flattering.
Yeah!
Incredible channel, how do you only have 17k subs? this channel deserves far, far more.
Beautiful piece, I find myself naturally drawn to gardening and the love of cultivation of the inner and out natures. Thank you for articulating something I could not.
Nice work, u emit an aura of deepness
🔥
Perfect for Sunday reflection
You are boss my friend! Always love your videos and your thoughts. Excellent choice of imagery as always. Thank you once again.
this was a good one! thanks Empire! peace
Another great piece. Thank you.
I am REALLY looking forward to the second video on this idea. I don't say this lightly when I tell you that these videos you have created on this channel have changed my life. I've spent the last two years delving deep on Psychology, Philosophy, and other more intellectual concepts and I feel like the way you present these topics really nail the core of the ideas in a way I haven't found so completely on other channels.
You are making a great impact in many people's life . You should become an author or a public speaker , the world needs more wisdom
I guess this is what I needed at the moment. It never hurts to enrich ones mind from time to time! Amazing video!
yeah loving the channel. Good Stuff
Here is something from From MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT - A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism which also locates the idea of a garden at the foundations of Western spiritual thought:
Genesis 2:15, KJV: "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."
"What was mankind doing and what was happening around it before the Fall?"
Now, the answer in Genesis is that mankind was set in a garden "in order to till it and keep it" (Genesis ii, 15). This means to say that the dawn of humanity did not take place either in a desert where nothing happens, or even in a jungle where everything sprouts forth and grows without the regulating and directing control of the Spirit or, lastly, in the conditions of a city or town where nothing sprouts forth and grows but where everything is caused and is done through the
regulation and direction of the Spirit.
A "garden" is thus a state of the world where there is cooperation and equilibrium between Spirit and Nature, whilst a "desert" is a state of immobile passivity both of Nature and Spirit, a "jungle" is the state of activity of Nature alone, and a "town", lastly, is that of activity of Spirit alone.
One could say, making use of Hindu philosophical language, that a "garden" corresponds
to the state of sattva of Nature (prakrtti) towards the Spirit (purusha). And it was in such a "sattvic" milieu -or "garden"-that humanity was placed and was assigned its primordial and eternal mission: to cultivate and maintain this "garden".
Let us stop here for a moment, dear Unknown Friend, to breathe in again, after the magnitude and significance of this compressed and lapidary statement from Genesis (ii, 15) has so taken our breath from us. The primordial and eternal mission of mankind is thus to cultivate and maintain the "garden", i.e. the world in a state of equilibrium and cooperation between Spirit and Nature! What a world of content is found enclosed in seed form in this statement!
May spiritual light - moral and practical, mystical, gnostic and magical - radiate forth when one opens one's heart and mind to the touch of this seed-statement!
From MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT - A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism
Quality video man. The New Testament echoes this concept in John 15. The idea is "making Garden" again, a sort of return to Eden and a restoration of man to the divine purposes for which he was created. Just discovered your channel but am glad to now subscribe.
OMGOSH. New EotM video
A very intruiging topic to discuss. I was always fascinated by ancient symbolism, especially Asian literature's symbols.
Second favorite video you've produced. Keep sewing seeds. Hopefully they'll end up in the good soil and not the rocks or weeds ;)
Superb channel
The scepter of Adam's kingdom is the knife...
Even tho this isn't about this vid. WOW dude , I met you with the Unus Annus Video and I been commenting every video or so as you may remember. I leave for a month and you already have a video with 250k views ?? CONGRASTS DUDE ! ❤You deserve each and every one of them. This shows how , with time and sacrifice , you get to truly be seen and improve upon yourself. Keep the great video essays up and running my friend and thanks for everything❤
Thank you so much my friend! Your encouragement on the Unus Annus video helped spur me on. I’d be nowhere without the support. I’m deeply thankful to have had you along on the journey.
So cute
Absolutely outstanding once again, thought provoking and fascinating. Your videos never disappoint.
so, like cultivation one's mind and soul
always excited for your uploads!!
beautiful video🌼
Wonderful video :)
Love your work dude .
I've been waiting for this since you did your horror/gladiator piece. Excellent.
Thanks for the video and your thoughts
I've watched a few of your videos now, and it's so good to see genuinely innovate and unique thought! Keep up the great work!
@4:15 Read Voltaire's Candide. Its worth the read, and also addresses this very issue.
Well dun
Great points..excellent video. I'm reminded of Thomas Coles Course of Empire (the pastoral state). He saw that as the ideal state of man ..the first being too primitive snd the rest being decadent and overblown
👍
Excellent and central theme to analyze. You keep hitting home runs. Consider critiquing Candide if you’re doing more garden content. It seems to straddle a lot of good and bad thinking at a time that is a major turning point in Western Civilization.
In the Gospel of John (chapter 20), Mary Magdalene mistakes post-resurrection Jesus for a gardener. There is something to be said about the notion that Jesus, in His glorified body, could be mistaken as such.
Your words remind me very much of a lecture I heard from N.T. Wright. This video serves as an Ebenezer: We are placed on the earth to cultivate the glory of the Lord.
This was refreshing. I had started to think that maybe all of the channels which are just videos of slideshows with computerized voices reading super pointless jargon in order to get follows and watch hours would never drop the computerized voices and instead have an actual human reading said super pointless jargon in order to get follows and watch hours. Congrats, you have elevated the art of being a total time wasting socio-pseudo snake oil salesman.
This is where Candide ends up, 'to cultivate ones own garden' (even in the probability of destruction) is the closest the book gets to a moral.
Stopped halfway through video to weed my garden. Came back in and hit unpause. Now my keyboard has dirt in it
Loving your works so far. Keep it up!
If I were to recommend one thing, I would love if you delved into the world of manga. There are many famous works of manga that I would love your explanation and insight on, such as Berserk by Kento Miura, Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue, Monster by Naoki Urasawa, JJBA (especially SBR) by Hirohiko Araki, and Homunculus by Hideo Yamamoto, and Blame! by Nihei Tsutomo. These are just handful of the masterpieces produced by incredible mangaka.
I hope you try reading one of them and enjoy!
Thanks! I have to say, I’ve never so much as dipped my toe in manga, but I am absolutely open to it. I’ll make a point to read at least one of these, though it might take some time to work up the knowledge and courage to comment on a literature that is so new to me.
@@EmpireoftheMind Oh, I know you're gonna love the experience. Out of these, you should either read Monster, Homunculus, or Blame! first, and these are really solid introductions to the world of manga. Take your time!
I don't know where your political or religious views lie, but I'm sure a magazine like the American Conservative or Crisis would love to publish your writing. Great vid
4:20- love that!
Can you please review stuntman with peter o’toole?
Next time I hear spiritual people talking about self-care, I will oppose it with self-gardening.
Read Mattheu pageau's book Language of creation. It focuses on Genesis and shows how the world is one big symbolical story. Do it please
It’s on my to-read list.
Zhiang mao didn't ride the tiger
How do you spell the name of the Taoist at the beginning??
Is there any further reading on this that you’d recommend?
Look up Jonathan Pageau's "cosmic image" here on YT and you'll find an in-depth explanation of the idea of the Garden
In terms of the symbolism of the Garden, I’m definitely influenced by Jordan Peterson: he talks about it at length in Maps of Meaning, if I remember correctly. When it comes to the concept of submitting to nature, working with it, and cultivating it (in addition to literal gardening), I’m indebted to Wendell Berry and his ilk: see Berry’s Jayber Crow, if you want a novel (not my favorite, but it has beautiful bits), or his series of essays called The World Ending Fire. My shortest and most powerful recommendation on cultivation and nature would probably be Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Man the Reformer.”
If you want reading, consider Matthieu Pageau’s The Language of Creation.
I wonder, then, what does the city called New Jerusalem, come down from heaven when the world is remade, signify? Temple, perhaps, placed within Nature? Is that the destiny of garden?
Good question. The new Jerusalem seems symbolically connected with the church itself, and ‘the Lord himself is the temple.’ But Revelation is a difficult text.
Well, I think "Being There" had gardening as a meaning of life, albeit in a humorous way.
What if you feel powerless to stop those who are stomping all over your garden. Selfishly and lazily ignoring and defying the rules of the garden? Yet I can not bear the scorn of kicking them out of the garden.
Symbolically speaking, I think one should guard the garden, and that one has no obligation to respect those who trample it. Your garden doesn’t just exist for your own good, but for the good of the world; therefore the most loving thing one can do for the world (as well as for oneself) is to kick out the destroyers. For what it’s worth, Jesus for one had no qualms about clearing the temple (a kind of symbolic re-creation of the garden), and he was surely a wise man.
@@EmpireoftheMind I agree with your analogy and have advised others similarly. It just hasn't seemed to work yet so I wonder if this isn't some "Season" I'm supposed to be going through. If they would just help pull weeds or remember to close the gate...that would be something! Thanks for the kindness.
That could definitely be true. You are very welcome.
You should have a subscribe star because some people hate patreon
yeah, that Bao Zhe Taoist wise guy was after your money, dude.. you gave him a bowl of rise in exchange fo one wisdom, didn't you..
Brilliant. Would be nice if you could, in some way (well, I guess, truly you already are) the bizarre world of critical race theory, which seems so opposite of the sentiments you explore here and elsewhere. As a culture we seem to be at a nexus with one path that leads towards tribalism and simple thinking and a loss of history, and deep meaning, and another that could deny that movement and continue towards greater mystery that comes form knowing, questioning, learning more, and finding more mystery to explore.
Indeed, I must say I vehemently oppose all strands of Critical Theory, racial or otherwise. We need wise criticism, but criticism should not be the central, organizing, operative feature of our philosophy, ethics, or societal paradigms. I believe in building, not deconstructing; growing rather than tearing down; synthesizing rather than criticizing. The more we commit to growing the garden, the more Critical Theory will naturally be undermined.