Gnostic Gardening

"Incurably Pelagian"

"The great German theologian Karl Barth a few years ago described British Christianity as "incurably Pelagian."

The rugged individualism of the Celtic monk, his conviction that each person is free to choose between good and evil. And his insistence that faith must be practical as well as spiritual remain hallmarks of Christians in Britain. And the British imagination has remained rooted in nature, witnessed by the pastoral poetry and landscape painting in which Britain excels, indeed that peculiar British obsession with gardening is Celtic in origin. Visitors to the British Isles are often shocked at how few people attend church each Sunday.

Yet to the Britons, church-goers as well as absentees, the primary test of faith is not religious observance, but daily behaviour towards our neighbours — and towards one’s pets, livestock and plants."
By Alan G. Hefner

Pelagius was a cornerstone of Gnostisism in Britain.

For the benefit of the garden, good gardeners also delve into the hidden mysteries of nature and science. A gardener has to regularly choose between good and evil, choosing between the healthy and unhealthy plants, and discarding the latter.

Good gardeners are as penitents to the glory of God. Often found on hands and knees, with dirt on their hands and faces, they humbly tend to the welbeing of what's in their care.

Our daily behaviour towards our neighbours, pets, livestock and plants should echo the great words of a great man, Gandhi. "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

Good gardeners are truthful to their plants and cultivate good plants, to help them endure. In this way, we save our own souls.

One standard alone determines if someone is good or bad: Whether he is able to be true, good, and endure. ... Buddhists emphasize the Good of True, Good, Endure, in their cultivation. Cultivation of Good can develop a heart of great compassion, and once this heart of great compassion comes out you can see that all sentient beings are suffering, so you’ll be filled with one wish: to save all sentient beings. But they also have True, and they also have Endure, it’s just that the emphasis is on cultivating Good.
Ref : Turning The Law Wheel

It's said that we live in the best of all possible worlds.
Cela est bien dit, mais il faut cultiver notre jardin.

I have already given my children strict instructions on what to do with my body after I pop my gardening clogs. Don't waste good money on a miserable funeral. Take that money down the pub and buy a good few round of drinks in my memory. Just bury me in my garden, so that as I complete one life cycle, I start providing sustenance for more life cycles. In that way, part of me becomes immortal.

So mote it be.