Volume 14 Issue 1 Spring 2020
David Price President
Erica Smith, DBA Editor
James Albo Caley Curchy Graphic Designers
Letter from the President
Editorial Contributors Jaime Fogel Philip A. Gonsiska, PhD Marilyn Knowlton Patrick Lynch Tricia Martin Cheryl L. Peterson Melissa Robillard Melissa Roth-Giffen Kari Ruder Melissa Tyrone
Photo Contributors James Albo Philip A. Gonsiska, PhD Max Lindsey
Mission
To inspire a better and more beautiful world by sharing Edward Bok’s legacy.
Vision
To reach out in beauty to the people, and fill their souls with the quiet, the repose, the influence of the beautiful.
Nature has always been a source of solace and inspiration. Throughout history, man has found centeredness in nature. Jesus went into the wilderness, Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree, and Mohammad climbed Mt. Hira. As beautifully sculpted on the Singing Tower's Great Brass Door, the biblical creation story began with a man in a garden. In the late 19th century, there was an awareness of the need to protect nature as the modern world consumed the wild into profit and commercial goods. Authors, naturalists, and philosophers were some of the first to call for the preservation of open space. Writers such as John Muir and John Burroughs wrote of the wonders of forests, mountains, rivers, and canyons. Their writing described nature's fine details in terms of beauty, inspiration, and the wonderment of diversity. Burroughs captured his feelings about natural spaces with this powerful statement that continues to be relevant nearly a century later, “I come here to find myself. It is so easy to get lost in the world.” The author Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote, “Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.” The spiritual and health benefits of nature have long been intuitively known and later scientifically studied by psychologists, including Rachel and Stephan Kaplan. In a paper entitled The Restorative Environment: Nature and the Human Experience, Stephan Kaplan writes of studies exploring how patients heal faster in a hospital if they have a view of nature from their hospital room. Patients that interacted with the environment were much more inclined to seek positive changes in their lifestyle. In 1929, Edward Bok created Bok Tower Gardens for visitors to disconnect from the hectic, electrified world. That mission and purpose is even more relevant today. We recognize the importance of wellbeing and have focused our efforts to create improvements and programming that promote health and wellness for both mind and body. As we review and update our strategic plan, we will continue that focus. Recently we entered into a partnership with Wawa, Inc. to promote health and wellness with an emphasis on underserved children. Nature, conservation, and health are inextricably linked. Places for the public to walk, meditate, explore, and enjoy are vital to our wellbeing, health, and happiness.
1 Spring 2020
The Garden Path
David Price, President January 2020
