How can we ever repair all the suffering we endure?

Coming in 2027 · Essentia Books, an imprint of Collective Ink
The Infinite Garden Cycle
A science-loving spirituality to repair what aches
Perhaps the point of existence is to heal more things than you destroy, both within yourself and with others. Either way, what stories can soothe our deepest fears and hopes, while staying open to what science tells us?
The Infinite Garden Cycle explores an idea that’s equally tantalising and terrifying: what if we’re all part of a larger consciousness? Drawing on neuroscience, philosophy and mythology, Jack Hopkins asks how this might change our response to suffering, cruelty and the need for repair.
Dozens of vignettes alternate with argument to consider the Will-to-Repair: our urge to notice harm, reduce it, and mend what we can. At its core is The Sufferer's Power: You don’t owe the world a lesson from your pain. Repair belongs to whoever was hurt, because nobody else can decide when a wound is closed.
Some books help you escape the world. This one asks whether the world can still be mended.
Early Praise
Read all endorsementsThe Unanswered Agony
You peel the surgical gloves from your hands, the wet latex snapping in the sudden quiet of the scrub room. Through the observation glass, you watch the nurses wheel the incubator past. Inside is a newborn girl, her chest rising and falling with the fierce, steady rhythm of the newly alive. Along the corridor, her father has slid down the wall to the floor, his face buried in his hands, shattered by relief.
Choose your own path.
You can read from the beginning or follow the questions that matter most to you. The chapters branch into stories, arguments and practical ideas.
A Quick Summary
Meet the central promise and the central risk.
Why Bother Reading This?
In this messy world, why should we keep trying?
Core Concepts
Keep the book’s recurring ideas close as you explore.
The Sufferer’s Power
Start with the injured person’s authority over how they heal.
Addiction: Our Will-to-Repair Misfires
Explore the urge to repair when it gets caught in harmful patterns.
A Life of Repair
Follow the ideas into ordinary choices and relationships.
Science: The First Canvas
Explore how scientific evidence and a revisable mythology can coexist.
Our Will-to-Repair
Consider the central argument about our urge to mend harm.
The Combination Problem
Follow the philosophical questions about one consciousness and many lives.
The Two-Minute Keystone Compass
A short practical reflection on the harms around you.
The Sufferer’s Power
Who carries the wound? And can they ever decide what happens to it?
A Life of Repair
Turn attention towards the repairs you can make.
These are routes through the book. Skip sections, turn back, and return to the parts that call to you. When you’re short on time, follow the Key Takeaways and What This Means trail markers.
What stayed with them
“The vignette about the surgeon gave me chills and I cried. … I want a copy of your book as soon as it comes out.”
Bettie Meyers Lye
“Your concept of the will-to-repair is a brilliant rebuttal to Nietzsche and other philosophers.”
Amanda Acker
“Your analysis on dealing with suffering is spectacular. This book is an enlightening pathway that takes you on an empowering and comforting journey on the most existential questions in life.”
Evan Roth
How the book approaches science and spirituality
The Infinite Garden Cycle brings scientific research, philosophical argument and imagined stories into conversation. Its mythology and overall framework remain open to challenge. You can venture deep into every pathway in this book, while making up your mind on how much of it is real.
