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In matters of love, Gardeners seek to follow the example of instinctive, heart-led Parzival. For Gardeners, love is the divine guide for life because they believe the heart is trustworthy—it tells the truth. Gardeners believe that within one’s deepest passions and compassions lies one’s true path in life and love. Instead of pursuing “not what I want, but what God wants,” Gardeners often conclude that “God planted this deep desire in me for a reason.” Gardeners sometimes sum this up in comparative religions expert Joseph Campbell’s phrase “Follow your bliss.”
Gardeners may be willing to sacrifice adherence to the rules—even of principle—on the altar of passion or compassion.
- Like Jesus, who healed on the Sabbath despite the religious rules of his day.
- Like the couple in The Song of Songs, singing about their illicit love.
- Like Parzival who married Condwiramurs, the love of his life, without a wedding performed by the corrupt Church.
- Again, like Parzival, who refused to slay his brother though his brother was an enemy of Christendom.
- Like those who protected Jews during the Holocaust by lying to the Nazis.
Gardeners view Jesus or other divine figures as the ultimate Gardener—the ultimate guide of the heart. For Gardeners, love trumps correctness.