LOTUSLAND: 1: a place inducing contentment especially by offering an idyllic living situation 2: a state or an ideal marked by indolent self-indulgence
In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his men discover a magical land of lotus-eaters. Some of the sailors eat the delicious lotus and forget about their homeland, pleading to stay forever in this "lotusland." (It is likely that the lotus in question was fruit of a real plant of the buckthorn family, perhaps the jujube, whose sweet juice is used in candy making and which has given its name to a popular fruity candy.) The label "lotusland" is now applied to any place resembling such an ideal perfection, but it also carries connotations of indolence and self-indulgence, possibly derived from the way the sailors refused to work once they reached the original lotusland. The dreamy unreality of a lotusland may make it a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
1 comment:
Actually Lotusland IS a great place to live! I am the Director of Lotusland in Santa Barbara, CA www.lotusland.org - and live onsite with my artist wife Jeanne Miller www.pinedancestudio.com.
While I'm sure we will not live in these glorious gardens forever, I am thrilled to wake under Chilean Wine Palms and hear the roaring of the frogs in the Lotus Pond!
Mike Bush
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