Because of the modest
height of our sanctuary and
its distance from the street,
the garden will mature
sufficiently in only three or
four years to veil the building
from the sidewalk and street.
The two-acre garden will be
open to the public for quiet
contemplation.
Americans have always understood the garden as
a special place of renewal. Henry David Thoreau
recommends the garden “to drink in the soft
influences and sublime revelations of nature.” For
Emily Dickinson, it was a place of worship:
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church,
I keep it staying at Home—
With a bobolink for a Chorister,
And an Orchard for a Dome.
America’s new awakening to this truth can be
observed all around us. Gardens enliven the roofs
of public buildings like the new Academy of
Sciences in Golden Gate Park (designed by the
SWA Group, which is landscaping the new sanctuary for Sufism Reoriented), on apartment balconies, and even the median strips on freeways.
We’re learning that “going green” means not just
conservation and recycling but finding more ways
to include the beauty of nature in our everyday
surroundings. When we do, we discover what John
Muir meant when he said, “I only went out for a
walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
Gardens nearby
When our new sanctuary on Boulevard Way is completed,
we will welcome our neighbors and friends to our gardens for
quiet contemplation. Meantime, there are some lovely open
gardens nearby:
St. Bonaventure’s parish and school at 5562 Clayton
Road in Concord is flanked by a large and quiet garden with
paths, bridges, benches, and alcoves where people can find
solitude and the restoration that comes from nature.
Walnut Avenue United Methodist Church at 260 Walnut
Avenue in Walnut Creek has created the Community
Labyrinth Project, with a large meditation garden. At the
entrance, a welcoming sign affirms the peace of gardens in
six languages. This large space welcomes visitors of any faith
to visit twenty-four hours a day as a gift to the community.
The phone number is 933-0888.
Garden at St. Bonaventure’s
Lafayette resident Martha Englebert opens her Oasis Garden to anyone who wants to walk in and find
quiet repose in her beautifully tended meditation garden and labyrinth. Martha’s number is 935-6236.
In Oakland, the second level of the Mormon Temple provides an inviting panoramic view and welltended flower beds where one can find solitude. The Cathedral of Christ the Light on Lake Merritt offers a
plaza and garden where visitors can sit in quiet contemplation within view of the lake.