In her last post “Stop What You’re Doing”, Terri referenced Margaret Renkl’s book, The Comfort of Crows. Renkl ends the book’s introduction with these words:

We were never cast out of Eden. We merely turned from it and shut our eyes. To return and be welcomed, cleansed, and redeemed, we are only obliged to look. (p. xvi)

This view is a welcome alternative to thinking humanity lives in some kind of exile from the earth’s goodness and vitality.

“We Are Only Obliged to Look”

I certainly need to heed the “stop what you’re doing” advice and get out of my task-oriented mentality in the landscape. Three lenses help me look and see Eden.

The Small Stuff. Macrophotography helps me to stop and look at things up close. Looking on this scale awakens amazement at the intricacies and beauty of the small stuff. E.O. Wilson famously claimed that insects are “the little things that run the world.” When we put soil under our microscope, we see how alive it is and imagine the workings of the “wood wide web.” We depend so much on what happens on the smallest levels… we’re still in Eden.

Things as a Whole. On days we work in the garden, we make a habit of stopping around four o’clock for appreciation time. We walk through the landscape and often sit to take it all in. Our gaze widens for a broader view. Looking at this scale awakens amazement at the web of living relationships and its beauty… we’re still in Eden.

The Young. We nanny our grandson who is now 19 months old. This year we have spent a lot of time together looking around our landscape. He loves caterpillars. Once he finds them, he keeps returning to their plant to check on them. He sees and points to butterflies, tree frogs, bees, mantises, and an occasional snake… all deserving a wave hello and good-bye. He feels rocks, soil, blooms, and foliage. We pretend the trees wave to him. He caws to crows and chases milkweed seeds in the wind. Plants get drinks from his watering can. He meanders around munching a pepper he picked and sits at the pub set at the back of the property snacking on cherry tomatoes. When helping dig sweet potatoes, he laughs as a plump tuber pops up from the ground. Wandering with him leads to wondering… we’re still in Eden.

Looking to see Eden does not mean looking away from the human and ecological brokenness in the world… suffering, injustice, and violence are all too present. I tend to think that the presence of such evils does not mean we are exiled from Eden. Instead, they may be reminders that a fundamental aspect of Eden is the deep interdependence of all creation. These webs of interdependence lead to life being tenaciously vibrant and delicately vulnerable. Being obliged to look is linked to being obliged to tend the web of interdependence.

Looking at the Year in Thanksgiving Gratitude

The Thanksgiving holiday is a cultural prompt for us to look at the fruits of the growing season and the web of life (human and ecological) that sustains us. The year has been good at Catchfly Commons! We are thankful for the relationships growing during garden visits, the diversity of life feeding our souls, and the learnings helping us to grow.

The blessings we count are not stray snippets and remnants gleaned by those cast out of Eden. They are the warp and weft in the fabric of life. Recognizing that is living into the spirituality of place and leaves me being…

Thankfully, still in Eden.

---

Photos of grandson by Terri Litchfield
© Terri Litchfield, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Other photos by Randy Litchfiled
© Randy Litchfield, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)