THIS used to be a “neatly mown” lawn in our backyard …. but it hasn’t had the sharp blades of a mower slicing through it for about two years. And now it’s an ever-changing wilderness of plants - fruit trees, grasses, “weeds” and vegetables. I love the idea of letting some of our neat and tidy backyards grow back into their natural, free state providing a rich environment for creatures of all sizes both above and below the surface.
And there’s something about this kind of freedom that is relevant to our everyday lives. Much is accomplished within the predictability of a tidy living space and organised daily routine. But if we linger too often and too long inside our tidy and predictable environments, we might miss out on much that is spontaneous and free.
When I think of different expressions of ourselves, I remember one of my teachers from long ago saying “Discipline is the dancer’s freedom”. We need structure and discipline at times and we also benefit from being able to let go and ‘let it flow’. Order, structure and discipline have their place but if we are going to experience more potential than we ever imagined, we might risk stepping outside the known and familiar - face into the inevitable unknown and unseen risks - and experience something which may have unexpected benefits for ourselves and others.
I love the mixture of order and structure (neatly mown places) and the wild abandonment in the garden. Rather like the “quiet” spaces in a piece of music or art, the tidy orderliness of the garden accentuates the abandoned beauty of the wildness. And, perhaps most importantly of all, the wild profusion of green plants provides a rich supply of living organisms which create another urgently-needed carbon sink for our tired planet.
*Let it go. Let it out. Let it all unravel.
Let if free and it can be
A path on which to travel.
~ Michael Leunig ~ artist, philosopher, social commentator, spiritual pioneer