Opening paragraphs................

It's early summer, and the sunflowers are about seven feet high in the garden off the kitchen.  I'm reminded that in the fifteenth century, Marsilio Ficino recommended that everyone turn toward the mystery of his own nature the way a sunflower turns toward the sun.  In all things, even the most recondite mysteries of the soul, nature is the first and finest of teachers.
-Thomas Moore,  The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life