Cosmos and Infinity
Cosmos bipinnatus
In midsummer, my backyard is a sea of pink and purple cosmos flowers. The feathery leaves and abundant blossoms sway and ripple with each small breeze. Cosmos self-seed easily, so the previous year’s seeds pop up in unintended places. I don’t have the heart to pull them out. Before I know it, they are copiously flowering all over the yard with bees and butterflies hovering nearby.
Cosmos have a neat trick of surviving our spring hailstorms, of which there are many. The hail seems to slide through the wispy leaves, leaving the plants undamaged. They are also drought resistant, another good trait here in Denver. They continue to flower and look great when other flowers are drooping in the heat. In autumn, the seed heads resemble little starbursts, an association with the heavens and the cosmos.
My granddaughter has declared that I have too many cosmos in the yard, something we disagree on. We do agree that the flowers appear to be infinite, which is the correspondence for this plant. Cosmos flowers are named from the Greek word kosmos, which “refers to an equal presence of order and beauty.” 30 It was first used by the matemtician Pythagorus to describe the universe. Cosmos flowers have a strong resonance with infinity and the boundless nature of the universe because of their name and their behavior.
As you hold this concept of infinity in your awareness, you might notice there are things you describe as infinite because they feel that way, whether they are truly boundless or not. For example, I might label love, creativity, children’s energy, and the cosmos in my yard as infinite. You might also be challenged by home or work situations that feel endless and unmanageable. It may be helpful to remind yourself that they are not.
True boundlessness is the nature of the universe. Consider how the idea of infinity touches you. Having no limits may feel like freedom, but it can feel immobilizing as well, or somewhere in between.
One way to get a sense of true infinity is to head out to the garden at night and look up at the stars. What does it mean to be on a small planet traveling in infinite space? Can you hold that question in your being for the week, examining your place in the scheme of things?
Morning Attunement Questions
• What connections do I have with cosmos and infinity?
• Where else in the green world or in my life do I observe infinity?
• What does this correspondence feel like?
• How can I describe this energetic attribute of infinity in words or pictures?
• Where does this correspondence of infinity resonate most strongly in or around my body or in my life?
Daily Integration Questions
• In what ways is the world reflecting cosmos or infinity back to me?
• What nuances and shades of meaning do I notice about cosmos and infinity?
Evening Reflection Questions
• Where and how did I experience cosmos or infinity today?
• How did I embrace this correspondence of infinity today?
• What wisdom does cosmos’s correspondence of infinity bring to my life?
30. JRank Science & Philosophy, “Pythagoreanism.”