Since the beginning of my career I have always been interested in the fields of landscape architecture, design and construction as well as having a more “hidden” interest in metaphysics, philosophy, feng shui, etc. You could have called it New Age thinking years ago, but that term is no longer used, except by certain fundamentalist religious faiths that condemn it. I noticed that in the sub markets of landscape/gardening, there is very little overlap with spiritual concepts. Conversely, I noticed in the “new age” circles that gardening and landscape design in general was treated as a whole separate thought process. What is interesting is that the design and building of gardens and landscaping is of the “mundane”, physical realm, while spirituality, symbolism and metaphysics is of the “transcendental” realm. They can be however, integrated so that the purpose and meaning of each realm is synergistic. This is the essence of what I am pursuing here in my spiritual gardens blog. I will soon be delivering more informative and useful materials such as books articles and other tools that will help one to achieve their particular, personalized way of obtaining meaning, purpose and connection to spirit. Each has their unique path, be that through religion, prayer, meditation, spirit guides, angels or just digging in the soil and listening to the plants, a “garden” setting can be a portal or gateway for such personal revelation and transformation.
-JSL
In think you are correct in describing the attitudes in Western thinking, but I think connecting landscaping with spiritual thought and meditation are strongly linked and have been for a long time.