The Garden: An Open-Air Library

On Nature, Freedom, and the Art of Choosing

From lemon balm to mint, from thyme to dandelion, from melissa to rose. Natural algorithms, natural light, natural creations.

A garden is a design that nurtures well-being: a window opening onto a world governed by different rules. To speak of rules is to remember that human beings belong to nature, and that encouraging them to become something they are not risks suppressing the innate creativity that lies at the core of their existence.

Colour, light, music, flowers and words are essential forms of human experience. If people were devoid of emotion, they would not seek to create ever more sophisticated designs, increasingly complex styles, or new melodies. The need to feel is what drives many contemporary inventions: "nomadic" lamps, sun loungers, homes "without boundaries." Objects and spaces that reflect a constant desire to give shape to feelings, aspirations and different ways of inhabiting the world.

There is a form of design that goes beyond functionality, one that invites, surprises and stands out in an increasingly standardised reality. In this sense, the garden represents one of the most complete expressions of that pursuit.

The garden offers what escapes simplification. It is a complex world that may sometimes appear unfair or discriminatory, because not everything survives. Faced with this reality, the impulse often arises to intervene, correct and modify. Yet human beings themselves are nothing more than temporary presences in a vast field called the world, destined to return to the earth.

"From it (the earth) We created you, into it We shall return you, and from it We shall bring you forth once again."(Qur'an 20:55)

The Qur'an also frequently uses the image of barren land brought back to life by rain:

"And among His signs is that you see the earth lifeless; then, when We send down water upon it, it stirs and swells. Surely He who gives it life is the One who will give life to the dead."(Qur'an 41:39)

The garden may be seen as a special newsstand. A place where different answers can be found to life's most complex questions, where each day offers a choice of which story to observe, which lesson to embrace, and which perspective to explore. No season tells the same story, and no flower is ever an exact repetition of the one before it.

Like a living community, the garden allows reality and imagination to meet. It is a composition that engages every sense and every emotion, a balance between order and spontaneity.

It possesses its own logic, one that is often difficult to accept. When a plant dies, no funeral is held; its disappearance is simply part of a natural process. This vision closely reflects the Qur'anic understanding of life as a continuous passage and transformation. No dramatic farewells, no competition to leave a mark through wealth or status. The value of a life is not determined by human judgement.

This is why nature continues to challenge and unsettle us. It constantly reveals that in-between space, that realm of "seeing and not seeing" which escapes control and questions the assumption that all answers can be possessed.

In an age when artificial intelligence presents itself as an increasingly efficient, accessible and reassuring tool, there is a risk in relying exclusively on systems that provide immediate answers. In doing so, we may forget that knowledge is also born from observation, patience, uncertainty and the coexistence of multiple perspectives.

The garden thus becomes a school of freedom. A newsstand of resources, themes and colours that offers the possibility of building one's own understanding of life and the world.

The Qur'an likewise encourages reflection, contemplation and learning through the observation of everything that lives both within and beyond the human being.

Rules are not necessarily limitations. They can be structures that allow life to develop harmoniously. A garden does not grow in absolute chaos: every plant follows its own biological rules, and it is precisely through those rules that it flourishes.

For this reason, many philosophers distinguish between rules that oppress and rules that make growth possible. Just as riverbanks allow a river to flow, certain rules enable freedom to express itself without dissolving into disorder.

There are universal rules; everything else belongs to interpretation, adaptation and dialogue.

Looking ahead, the relationship between human beings and artificial intelligence could also be built upon composable rules: flexible, versatile frameworks capable of adapting to different contexts, rather than rigid divisions between right and wrong.

The garden teaches that there are many needs, many solutions and many ways of being in the world.

The Qur'an does not ask anyone to become something they are not. Rather, it calls for respect for diversity and for the pursuit of truth. And truth can only be sought where there is freedom to choose, just as one chooses what to pick up and read from a newsstand.

When an answer is imposed and inquiry is replaced by certainty, the freedom of choice that makes knowledge possible begins to disappear.