I came across a pink door in the forest leading to nowhere. Have you noticed these lonely doors? Some of them are nice, all painted up with fancy hardware. I know they’re just for fun, but it takes an effort to build a workable door, so is there a hidden meaning? I can’t help but think of them as a symbol or an allegory. They must say something about time and space or dimension, a tantalizing passage to the magic of our imagination, an entrance to a new reality like Alice in Wonderland.

But these doors are always in a forest or a garden, so their purpose could be to reconnect us with the natural world. Maybe the door reveals our true nature, showing us a way to walk through the forest as an inhabitant, not a visitor. Perhaps the door is a transport to a place where the segregation dissolves, where the birds and trees, animals and plants become our friends and neighbors. Where the illusion of separation evaporates, and we return to our place in the garden.