As humans we can try to conquer the world, shape it according to our values and preferences. We can also withdraw into our garden, and take care of only that. And, with regard to the remaining world, only do what is necessary for the survival of the garden. We can even fully withdraw into our garden and trust that the world will not roll over it.
The maintenance of a garden is already a big task. But we can have a visible impact relatively easy. The size of the garden can be adjusted to our available energy and our commitment to details. If we turn to the world instead, things get more difficult. The world is huge. If we want to shape the world according to our likings and ethical standards, as it is possible with a garden, then we face an enormous task which is demanding many compromises. Making the whole world our garden, or refusing to differentiate between garden and world, or considering the shape of the garden to be fully dependent on the world, will result in a conflict with the very concept of a garden. A garden is protected space, which we create for us. Without question it is in contact with the world, in exchange with it, no matter how high the walls around it are build. But still, we imprint our personal note in the garden, without having to know or change the entire world.
In the past centuries, the world has changed. It has become smaller. We moved tighter together. We work together more closely. We trade mostly globally and impact each other often and more directly. Global trade has existed for a long time. The silk road is nothing new, it dates back deep into antiquity. Still, the share of globally produced and distributed goods has gone up a lot in the past centuries. The transport on land, water and in the air has become cost efficient, fast and relatively safe. Locally produced goods are the exception and the globalization of the economy has been pushed close to the limit. This must result in many of the conditions in our immediate surroundings to be closely tied up with the entire rest of the world. Disentangling those connections is a huge effort and comes with losses. And we must wonder if this can be the right way forward.
When we find us facing the entire world, we are quickly overwhelmed by a feeling of impotence. How can we make an impact in something this big, where billions of people are involved? How can we enforce any improvement? This task can absorb us so much that we become frustrated and neglect our own health and our own life. We must often acknowledge that with our own strength we are unable to achieve the effect we imagine and aim for. We fail to reshape the world into the condition that we think is right. We feel powerless, overrun by the world, and we do not know how we could still achieve something in life. Did we fail? No. The ambition to change the world is justified. We are here to contribute to the world. But we can also learn something here. We can help to improve the world and the world can help us to become a better person. It can help us to develop and evolve. If the world does not meet our expectations, if we think it is not right, our answer should not be limited to a desire for changing the world. We can also ask what the world has to show us, what we can learn here, with the world as it is. We still have a lot to learn, not just about the world, but also about ourselves.
It is easy to criticize the world and accuse politicians. It is difficult to sweep before your own doorstep. But this is where we would have the possibility to set a good example. Who takes good care of his garden, of his body and mind, has automatically a positive impact on the rest of the world. Of course, we should not withdraw from the world and become a hermit while we do so. In today’s world, this is no longer possible for most people anyway. But we do not need to participate in everything. We can make a selection and choose what we plant in our garden. Obviously, more things will find their way into our garden, through paths that we cannot control. How we handle those things is again up to us. What we take out of the garden and give to the world, so that it can recover and maintain good health as a whole, that we can also influence. The whole world certainly cannot find healing in our garden. But that should not be our ambition. It is about a contribution to the world, not about submission or forced happiness.