Recently I've been talking to various people about Chi Gardening and a discussion with two blokes come to mind. Both were successful, you know the big house, boat and maybe millionaire tag and both were interested in nature and their need to connect to it.
To them connecting to nature removed them from the stresses of everyday life. One of the blokes made his money buying and doing up houses and was very concerned with good presentation. He would establish free flowing, neat and healthy gardens and modeled his homes to reflect similar characteristics and was aware of good balance throughout. The product had to have that feel good image about it.
He was inadvertently practicing Feng Shui and it did him well. Both men suggested to me there was something far more meaningful in their need to reaffirm connection to nature. One suggested it may go back to when we had no alternative but to live off the land. Way back in time to when there were no cities and towns and we were basically nomadic. Living off the land was a life or death thing, food, shelter and protection from predators forming the basic needs for survival. Maybe Darwinian traits designed to expose those weaker or unable to cope with the environmental stresses of the day. The land was their saviour and they had respect for it, and the land deeply ingrained into their persona.
Subsequently urbanisation over the centuries has displaced many and those living in cities having their genetic imprints modified to living by organisation of materials and others. Maybe the world is now poorer for encouraging that trait. We've become consumers of what's produced from the land and not having a need to maintain connection to it and with nature. That assumption may explain why some social groupings have no interest in gardens and prefer the confines of towns and cities.
Yet genetically modified imprints are still strong enough within many of us to enjoy nature and natural surroundings and we do so in the knowledge that our survival isn't dependent on it as before. Could it be males seek reconnection to nature more so than females because the instinctive bond may have been stronger in males? But this point had better be left for discussion elsewhere.
If the male bonding thing is the case, Harmonious Chi Gardening can be a man's thing as much as a woman's thing. The bloke visiting the garden for re-connection to nature and using gardening as a new found skill to harmonise with their surroundings. Maybe growing herbs, fruit or vegetables or providing a lawn area for the kids, maybe a place for a seat and sitting down with a cool drink. Creating places of visual appeal, functional use and enjoyment could be good therapy for true blokes.
Hopefully if Harmonious Chi Gardening offers a bloke a role in the garden it will do so because they want to connect with nature and reaffirm some instinctive urge to reach out and touch the earth. They are spiritually awakened by the association.
