Eden

I have been reading Heaven's Song (Sexual Love as it was Meant to Be) from Christopher West.

In chapter three, he quotes from the Song of Songs:

"A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden closed, a fountain sealed" (4:12). 

Then, a little further on, he says :

"As we seek to enter the truth expressed by this language, it would be wise to "take off our shoes," for this is holy ground. Indeed, if we follow John Paul into the depth of this mystery we will find ourselves "behind the veil," having mystically entered the innermost sanctuary of God's dwelling place - the "holy of holies."

I haven't read the rest yet, and I don't know if the book is going to even take the same line of thought, but the truly amazing thing (to me) is that I wrote a poem a few years ago, essentially using the exact same imagery and metaphor.

It basically asks "If I let you in (to that garden) would you find the flowers rare? Would you think me amazing? Or would you get restless, and want to leave?"

We all have our inner sanctuary, our "holy of holies" and not everyone gets to go in there. That garden is reserved for those whom we trust, and more importantly, for those whom we deem worthy of it, those whom we know that, once inside, will truly appreciate what they see there, and give it the proper reverence.

Now I'm thinking the Garden of Eden isn't so much a physical place that disappeared from the earth after Adam and Eve were banished, as a spiritual place that's been here all along, that we just banished ourselves from, through sin.  In this garden, we truly can walk naked, in fact, to walk naked is a requirement, because here, there is only honesty and beauty and truth and the things that cloud your vision of that are gone.  Here, we are free to see each other as we truly are, and to love, not despite the imperfections, but through cherishing and finding the beauty in those same imperfections that make each person distinct.