Reflections on Gardens

As I sit looking down on my japanese garden, I'm studying about the cosmic fall and the garden of Eden. I've been trying to convince some people at the American Scientific Affiliation that the Garden of Eden really was a paradise. Of course, the Septuagint uses the word paradieson to describe the garden, so the case is an easy one to make.

Now, the one thing I am discovering about my garden here is the inordinate amount of spiders. There are hundreds of massively large spiders, all sitting in the middle of their geometrically perfect sails of silk. The sway back and forth in the breeze, glistening in the sunlight. I hate spiders. They keep making these small wonders of engineering right across my walking path, and especially at night, it creeps me out to get a full web in the face. This garden is a mini paradise - a centre of calm and serenity in the midst of a busy city. But if gardens mean spiders, I'll have to rethink my estimation of Eden.