Balance, Order and Harmony: A work of art, is joy forever!

I am a big fan of Monty Don - ever since I started watching his shows, I have been smitten by the gardening bug.

It's a great pleasure to walk in any of the great gardens and the palaces of Italy. I never could pin point what was that one thing which gave the gardens its character and panache. Walking around in some of the great gardens there... brought about a profound sense of peace and wonder.

Recently, I started creating a small garden on our terrace. I have been getting inspiration from some of Monty's Italian Garden's series.

Building a garden is like a work of art. Building anything in one's life that needs to sustain is a work of art. Like John Keats said, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever" - so too is your work of art..

Monty Don's Garden series takes you to a different world. I strongly encourage you to see the four part series from Monty on Italian gardens. If this does not awaken the sense of mysticism and wonder about nature, I don't know what will..

You see...some of the greatest works in the modern era - music, painting, architecture, science and invention, printing, war making, expansionism, learning, industry... emanated from the renaissance era!

Come to think of it - it was a reawakening of the Greek and Roman era in the modern times which gave suddenly, the somewhat backward nation-states of Europe - a new purpose and direction.

What started as an artistic pursuit in the 14th century lasted until the 17th century and left the world a very different place. Europeans, decisively took the lead from Chinese and Indians post renaissance. There was a new sense of direction and purpose where there seemed to be backwardness before.

Great prosperity is typically preceded by times of reawakening of art and culture. Some of the greatest gardens in Italy were created during this time. The way the gardens were made, give us some learning on how to build somethings which can last.

The great gardens' of Italy have lasted 300+ years and will likely last many more. The trees and flowers are long gone, but the style and texture still remain.

One of the things which has profoundly impacted me in recent past is that one thing which all the gardens seem to have in common....

Like Monty says - In every direction, you see balance, order and harmony. There is something in them... that still has such a powerful resonance with us today. The thing that strikes you immediately when you walk in is the symmetry. 

Everything is balanced. Whatever happens on one side is picked up on the other side. The result is harmonious, and you can feel it, you can feel this sense of lightness, of generosity that is completely prepared and ordered and laid out. 

And you might think that that would be dull and predictable, but actually, it's not. The whole point of that is in every direction, you see balance, order and harmony. 

Renaissance thinkers were exploring classical scientific principles, and one of the beliefs was that God created the world along mathematical lines.

The renaissance gardens give us a great lesson to learn - that... that which is created to last, has to have a sense of balance, a sense of purpose. All, built with a sense of love and great harmony filled with delight.

Let us build our pieces of work and art... that unfinished painting, which we want to build to last... with great balance, order and harmony. 

Amen. Long live Monty Don!


Ciao till next time...Harsha