How can we ever repair all the suffering we endure?

Cover of The Infinite Garden Cycle by Jack Hopkins, subtitled A science-loving spirituality to repair what aches

Coming in 2027 · Essentia Books, an imprint of Collective Ink

A living mythology

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.

The Unanswered Agony

A vignette from the chapter Science: The First Canvas.

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.

01

A Quick Summary

Meet the central promise and the central risk.

02

Why Bother Reading This?

In this messy world, why should we keep trying?

03

Core Concepts

Keep the book’s recurring ideas close as you explore.

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.

Jack Hopkins

Jack Hopkins

Jack Hopkins is an author currently based in British Columbia, with a background in journalism and public service. He brings questions about consciousness into contact with grief, responsibility and what we can repair, when it often feels like too much is broken. The Infinite Garden Cycle is his first book.

“If this book helps you repair one wound, every hour I spent on it will have been worth it.”
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