In the Peace of a Narrow Garden

                                            In The Peace of a Narrow Garden

 

 

“They would have done better, according to their own narrow standards, to have shortened the arm of their ambitions and to have dwelt, like Lucretius or Spinoza, in the peace of a narrow garden.”

 

That, as page 43 of Avery Dulles’s “Testimony To Grace” concedes, is the dying wish of those conceived and nurtured by wealth and wealth alone as an only grace. You may disagree with him and ultimately with those who might agree with him, yet, perhaps the world at large would disagree with you should we ever choose to argue that course.

 

Well then- let’s argue the course. What Dulles is fighting is what every serious Christian has been fighting since the Enlightenment. Boredom. Infantile extremism run rampant in business, in art and letters, which by the way, led directly to the advent of the internet, the sound bite and the demise of papers that provide a great sounding board for things like (again,) letters. Think of those to the Editor and what a fun job they must have had!

 

What we are discussing is the lost art of wonder or better yet, the perception of what is real. We might (and we do) believe that what is spoken about in the press, the media and the Internet must be true for the very fact that we want to believe in the humanity of people. But again I quote,

” They would have done better, according to their own narrow standards, to have shortened the arm of their ambitions…” 

 

Why, because ambition has a way of turning things into itself, for itself and by itself without a thought to the true and to the good. The alluring thoughts of Mr. Dulles have a stance that is steeped in the Platonic thought of eons of dealing with the real. He has pointed to that which others before him have actually died for to give us humanity. He is truly a realist. And as a realist he recognizes that there is not one thing you can give, but that we must all give all. The Portrait of the Artist as a young man has no value if that young man has no value. It becomes simply a book, one of thousands to choose from. The entire collection of the Louvre is a waste of paint should it seek to inspire you with commercial endeavors designed to commemorate your experience.

 

Waste your money on those things that last. Shower the people in your life with riches. Grow with them. Life is supposed to be an adventure but the best ventures are those started closest to home. In the end, all we need to do is be there for them.

 

But I must digress here and for no other reason than that I must. I don’t want you to miss the point. The things we do must be done for the higher purpose, whatever that may be. It cannot be done to make you feel better sleeping this night or an attempt to make your accountant feel better in the morning should you find the next great write off. No. It must be for the good of the person given to. As has been said, when opening the door, you may be entertaining angels, so be on guard. That person asking has as much right to the goods of this world as you have been given.

 

So give them. As much and as often as it hurts. At the least you will never run the risk of losing the perfect peace of the narrow garden. Who knows, in the end, it may not be as small as you imagined.