Explanation: The text under item I. is the author’s work of Majda Ortan, eng.. The following is a collection of references from others (see Literature and sources).
“A sustainable agriculture, likewise, has personal, interpersonal and spiritual dimensions.”
“Reclaiming the Spiritual Roots of Farming“. By John Ickerd, University of New Hampshire, 2001.
I.
In general, humans mostly associate spiritualism with the soul(s), with the spirit, with divinity, and only with spirituality, with religions.
However, these common people’s notions of spiritualism are generated by the human mind, the human ego. What man really is, however, is his soul, man’s consciousness. This applies to all creatures on Earth and also to our planet – Gaia, which is a living being.
In many religious and philosophical traditions, the soul is the non-material essence of a person, which includes one’s identity, personality, and memories, an immaterial aspect or essence of a living being that is believed to be able to survive physical death.
The concept of soul has always been understood by people in their own way. My own simple perception is that a person’s soul energetically and vibrationally/informationally fills his etheric body, only – this provides the person with energy and all the software for the life of our physical bodies through the energy centers / chakras. In my understanding, it is the same for all life on Earth and beyond. Energetically / vibrationally / informationally it is so connected, everything that is. Everything is one and perfectly synchronized, coordinated. Different levels of vibration are levels of individual and collective consciousness.
Whoever declares himself to be a soulless being, whoever lives like this, thus turns off his “divine inner guidance”, therefore does not take it into account (fully) and cannot take it into account (fully). If he renounces it completely, he is disconnected from the consciousness of oneness. On Earth, we call this unity consciousness the Natural Order. Therefore, in my view, the strict separation of today’s science and spirituality has no meaning, nor any positive practical value, it is not the Truth, but a mental product, a concept that serves to control and manipulate “down the existing pyramid of the global – world order”.
Food produced by humans has its own meaning, its purpose in the consciousness of unity, and this also applies to all related processes and ecosystems.
Good agricultural practices are and were also part of this and per my belief, those agricultural practices that are consistent with the natural order are good. They can bring a huge number of solutions that humanity needs more and more urgently every day due to global problems.
Agriculture as such should serve humanity in a way that is consistent with the Natural Order. In my opinion, such agriculture deserves to be called spiritual agriculture. This was also studied and explained by Rudolf Steiner, in a manner appropriate to his time and to those who came at least close enough to him in terms of level of consciousness. Because different levels of consciousness enable and give different insights, different knowledge of wisdom, and last but not least, also different perception.
In this place, I also touch on manual, physical work in agriculture.
If a person begins to grow food by hand, for his own needs and for the needs of his family, if he performs the cultivation tasks in accordance with the Natural Order, if he has a respectful attitude towards the Natural Order and nature, if he also has a respectful attitude towards all other creatures, then the food produced in this way is HIS MEDICINE and MEDICINE FOR HIS FAMILY MEMBERS. Manual work involves DIRECT CONTACT between the worker, the soil, and the plants. This direct contact enables the transmission of specific own vibrations and information. What do the soil and plants do with these vibrations and information? Connected to their own Natural giga-internet, in the process of plant growth they exchange vibrations and information that enable and also cause the plant based food grown in this way to also be medicine for that person.
Of course, plant diseases and plant pests can appear during the growing season, and in such a case, I sincerely recommend the use of these natural, vibration-informational homeodynamic products to such growers. The basis for them are from healthy ecosystems, their vibrations and information, which summarize the Natural Order and in treated ecosystems strengthen the vibrational balance and the general and specific resistance of plants to plant pests and plant diseases. Therefore, the natural balance is strengthened, which is a smooth, harmonious vibrational information flow, in accordance with the Natural Order. More Information for interested and for curious: Short introduction with key general informations, my business card with contacts, our WEBSITE. You are welcome to send us your demand.
II:
“A sustainable agriculture, likewise, has personal, interpersonal and spiritual dimensions.”
“Reclaiming the Spiritual Roots of Farming”. By John Ickerd, University of New Hampshire, 2001.
After witnessing the harmful effects of chemical farming, newly introduced agriculture technique among farmers is zero budget natural farming (ZBNF), also known as zero budget spiritual farming (ZBSF).This concept also supports sustainable agricultural practices and sustainable development, as well.
As an alternative to the Green Revolution, Mr. Subhash Palekar, a Padma Shri laureate, pioneered this zero-budget natural farming approach in India in the 1990s (Korav et al., 2020). ZBNF refers to a farming practise that requires no or very little external inputs. Farming on a shoestring budget is also known as low-budget farming. ZBNF is gaining traction in restoring soil quality for long-term crop production through diversification, microbial activity, nutrient recycling, and beneficial biological interaction (Devarinti, 2016). (11)
In general, we automatically associate spiritualism with the soul(s), with the spirit, with divinity, and only with spirituality, with religions.
However, these common people’s notions of spiritualism are generated by the human mind, the human ego. What man really is, however, is his soul, man’s consciousness. This applies to all creatures on Earth and also to our planet – Gaia, which is a living being.
In many religious and philosophical traditions, the soul isunderstood, perceived as the non-material essence of a person, which includes one’s identity, personality, and memories, an immaterial aspect or essence of a living being that is believed to be able to survive physical death.
The “concept” of soul has always been understood /understood/ perceived, as by people in their own way. My own simple perception is that a person’s soul energetically and vibrationally/informationally fills his etheric body, which provides the person with energy and all the software for the life of our physical bodies through the energy centers / chakras. In my understanding, it is the same for all life on Earth and beyond. Energetically / vibrationally / informationally it is / are so connected, everything that exist. Everything is one and perfectly synchronized, coordinated. Different levels of vibration are levels of individual and collective consciousness.
Whoever declares himself to be a soulless being, whoever lives like this, thus turns off his “divine inner guidance”, therefore does not take it into account (fully) and cannot take it into account (fully). If he renounces it completely, he is disconnected from the consciousness of Oneness. On Earth, we call this unity consciousness the Natural Order. Therefore, in my view, the strict separation of (today’s) science and spirituality has no meaning, nor any positive practical value, it is not the Truth, but a mental product, a concept that serves to control and manipulate “from top to bottom per existing pyramid of the global – world order”.
Food produced by humans has its own meaning, its purpose in the consciousness of unity, and this also applies to all related processes and ecosystems.
Good agricultural practices are also part of this and always were.
Agriculture – good agricultural practices as such should serve humanity in a way that is consistent with the Natural Order. In my opinion, such agriculture deserves to be called spiritual agriculture.
This was also studied and explained by Rudolf Steiner, in a manner appropriate to his time and to those of his close students only, who at least came close to him in terms of level of consciousness. Because different levels of consciousness enable and give different insights, different knowledge of wisdom, different perception and last but not least, also different perception.
In this place, I also touch on manual, physical work in agriculture and the connection of this with spiritual agriculture .
If a person begins to produce food by hand, for his own needs and for the needs of his family, if he performs the cultivation tasks in accordance with the Natural Order, if he has a respectful attitude towards the Natural Order and nature, if he also has a respectful attitude towards all other creatures, then the food produced in this way is HIS MEDICINE and MEDICINE FOR HIS FAMILY MEMBERS. Manual work involves DIRECT CONTACTS between the worker, the soil, and the plants. This direct contact enables the transmission of specific own vibrations and information between the worker, the soil, and the plants. What do the soil and plants do with these vibrations and information? Connected to their own Natural giga-internet, in the process of plant growth they exchange vibrations and information that enable and also cause the plant food produced in this way to also be medicine for that specific person.
Of course, plant diseases and plant pests can appear during the growing season, and in such a case, I sincerely recommend the use of these sustainable, natural, vibration-informational agrohomeodynamic products to such growers. The basis for them are healthy ecosystems, their vibrations and information, which summarize the Natural Order and in treated ecosystems strengthen the vibrational balance and the general and specific resistance of plants to plant pests and plant diseases. Therefore, the natural balance is established / strengthened, which is a smooth, harmonious vibrational information flow, in accordance with the Natural Order. More information: Short presentation with key data, my business card / contacts and our website.
Advanced technologies in spiritual agriculture
Ensuring the future of agriculture is a very hot and so also popular topic these days. Politicians, governments, knowledge institutions, agricultural advisory services, bankers and so on, talk about it.
Programs and projects are being created that aim to connect modern, modern technologies with agriculture. Nowadays, these are innovative approaches and contents of many innovative projects. They promise cost reduction, elimination of physical labor in agriculture, higher productivity, more crops, more earnings, more profit.
Drones fly over the fields, fertilization and watering are controlled by computer. Artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture can help explore the soil health to collect insights, monitor weather conditions, and recommend the application of fertilizers and pesticides. Farm management software boosts production together with profitability, enabling farmers to make better decisions at every stage of the crop cultivation process. Crops will be picked and harvested by robots.
Such are predictions and promises.
But, all of the above is soulless, heartless, it all completely eliminates any need for direct contact between gardeners and farmers with plants and the soil. The question that keeps popping up in my mind is what kind of food is and will be grown on such arable land.
How such food is connected with universal consciousness, with natural vibrational information fields, i.e. with Natural order and with people and animals, with consumers. In my view, it is about “dehumanizing the procedures” in agriculture, basically without people. Agriculture without people. And if a concept is without people, it is also a concept without a soul. (If needed, in above text is possible read more about this topic).
Food “produced” in this way only satiates people, fills their stomachs. But by no means nourturing them, because they can’t.
This is also how the alienation of people from their own feelings and from Nature, from the Natural Order, is strengthened.
No one can provide more and better care for people, animals, humanity for their successful, healthy, happy life than a spiritual farmer, one who practices spiritual agriculture. Energy-alive food growing on spiritual farms and spiritual home-gardens holds the keys to this doors.
You see, on the one hand, we keep hearing that the earth is overpopulated. On the other hand, we are already wondering where we would get enough people to work on such spiritual farms and home gardeners. The answer suggests itself. Consumers should know the producer of their plant-based food, they could buy it directly from him. During the growing season, future consumers could also sometimes “visit” their plants, step barefoot into nurseries and fields.
The economics of such production of plants-based food would, for example, could be sufficiently well covered by financial inflows, taxes could be earmarked for this, from budget items. We all pay taxes and all of us need to eat. The profit from the direct sale of crops would remain entirely with the farmers, it would not be intended to cover the costs of producing crops, but for the development of spiritual farmers and spiritual farms. And so on…
In terms of possibilities and projections, everything depends on the observer’s point of view. “Every eye has its own painter.” (Folk saying). But it is definitely good and in my opinion the best thing for everyone who has the opportunity to take steps in the direction of spiritual agriculture and spiritual home gardening. Don’t wait for anyone else to encourage or force you into it, they won’t come!
II.
What does science and profession says about all this?
Since Descartes insisted that facts and values must be kept in separate worlds, both scientists and farmers have been reluctant to use the word “spirituality” in connection with anything having to do with science or agriculture. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Rudolph Steiner and Liberty Hyde Baily’s work on agriculture were never given serious consideration in mainstream modern agriculture.
As David Abram reminds us, “We can know the needs of any particular region only by participating in its specificity—by becoming familiar with its cycles and styles, awake and attentive to its other inhabitants.” From this perspective farmers can only manage their farms effectively if they live on their land long enough and intimately enough to engage in such deep conversations with their land. It would begin the transformation from fragmentation to relationships. Such a spiritual transformation would have the potential to bring revolutionary changes to agriculture and set it on a path toward sustainability.
Till nowadays, it turns out we may not be all that “separate” from the rest of the cosmic community after all. It is becoming clear, in fact, that the “spiritual” dimension of the world is not as “separate” from the physical dimensions (as Descartes and Bacon imagined). It could, in fact, be argued that the “spiritual” is simply a way of understanding our world that acknowledges the connection and relationship to the rest of the expanding universe.
With respect to agriculture/ farming/ gardening, this suggests that we need to begin to pay at least as much attention to how the rest of the world works as we do to determining how to acquire our food, shelter and energy. We need to begin to develop production systems that are consistent with earth’s functioning and discontinue fashioning an agriculture that only attends to how to produce the maximum yield of a single crop in a single growing season.
Doing agriculture within the context of spirituality will lead us to pay attention to all of the relationships in which farming is involved. How do our farms affect the birds and bees and earth worms and air and water and soil micro-organisms? How do our production systems affect the cows and corn and native grasses on our farms? We must, in other words, begin paying attention to relationships.
In his Agriculture Lectures delivered in 1924 Steiner suggested that we embrace a more “spiritual” science. Steiner recognized the potential danger that the modern materialist science posed for agriculture because it changed the way farmers perceived and managed their farms. In his Lectures he urged his listeners to actively oppose the farming practices that were “bound up with the modern materialistic worldview” and to ignore studies based solely on “farm productivity.” Such research, he argued, was “really nothing more than studies on how to make production as profitable as possible” while ignoring the more important issue of how to achieve a “healthy farm.” He argued that “spiritual science” helped farmers recognize that farms are “rooted in the whole household of nature.”
Agriculture is extremely important in a developing country like India. Apart from fulfilling the food requirement of the growing Indian population, it also helps to improve the country’s economy. By 2050, 60% of India’s population would have severe food insecurity. Increased food production is critically needed, but high production costs and market price fluctuations are forcing farmers into debt. The usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has expanded in India since the green revolution. Excessive chemical use has a negative influence on the ecosystem, soil, human health and groundwater purity. Spiritual farming or Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is the most effective way to lower farmers’ input costs. Subhash Palekar practised and advocated Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) in India. Building elements of ZBNF are jeevamrith, bijamrith, mulching and soil aeration. These four approaches contribute to improved soil health, microbial population and crop output. Intercropping, contour bunds, crop rotation, green manures, compost, and biological pest management is some of the other fundamental elements. Spiritual farming as the potential to reduce pollution while also preserving productivity in our agroecosystem and has the ability to improve agricultural viability and food security.
Agricultural spiritualism or the Spirit of Agriculture refers to the idea that the concepts of food production and consumption and the essential spiritual nature of humanity are linked. It teaches that spirituality is inherent to human consciousness, is perhaps a product of it, and is accessible to all who cultivate it. The association with agriculture includes such agricultural metaphors as “cultivate” in language used by most mystics across history.
Followers of this idea state the following reasons to justify this link: Agriculture was the preoccupation of the majority of the population of the world at the time that the major scriptures of the continuing religions were compiled; the approach that agriculture takes to creating the optimal conditions for production of its harvest is the same as that recommended by the traditional religions for producing insight or wisdom; historically, the adoption of agriculture liberated part of a population to focus on understanding of spirituality. By understanding spirituality, agricultural spiritualism addresses the questions regarding ethics in agriculture. It serves as a method for communication, and building a relationship, between the spirit of the land and the spirit of the people through an everyday practice.
History of Agricultural spiritualism
Agriculture is a driving force in the everyday aspect of living on and off the earth’s resources. Agriculture was derived from the animalistic and natural forces we feel as humans in order to “control the acquisition and use of energy”. Any action by the feeder which increases the yield of a food in a given area over the natural yield turns the particular plant or animal being fostered into a secondary energy trap for the feeder — the one who then utilizes the additional energy produced.This was all considered with our location and actions being in relation to wherever the cosmos were above us and how that energy flows from centers of concentration to regions of diffusion.
Many agricultural rituals that have spiritual origins such as European Christians and Pagans drew their methods from “myths, imagery, and ritual practices from the ancient religions of Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ireland, and more, or from contemporary polytheistic traditions, such as Hinduism or Afro-Caribbean religions.
Explanation
Agricultural spiritualism is the idea that the methods behind food production, agriculture, the environment, and the key spiritual nature of humanity are connected. It links our basic spiritual natures to the simple aspects of life, like animal welfare, the quality of food, meditation, experiences in the wilderness, etc. Essentially, it’s about integrating spiritual practices and values into agriculture and farming to achieve the most efficient food production while also proving to be sustainable.[3]
This outlook on agriculture as a whole is purposeful in connecting the essence of its spiritual roots to modern-day farming practices to uphold farming’s fundamentally biological nature while implementing sustainability.[3] While practicing agricultural spiritualism, farmers value altruistic goals like peace and happiness, “We learn to pursue peace and happiness rather than success. We seek harmony among things economic, social, and spiritual not maximums or minimums.”[3]
By following this spiritual outlook, farmers are focused on adequate results, only utilizing resources for basic needs and necessary income. They believe that by not pushing for a maximum income, they are able to implement more responsible usage of resources and be in harmony with nature. Following agricultural spiritualism ideals is believed to create a more sustainable farming environment around the world which allows for a sustained desirable quality of life. This means being environmentally responsible and “farming in harmony with future generations being good stewards of finite resources for an infinite future.”[3]
Goals and benefits
Agricultural spiritualism seeks a relationship with the land through spirituality. In various cultures with depleting land resources for food, spirituality is valued. Agricultural spiritualism could serve as a bridge between a lack of connection between these two ideals. Agricultural spiritualism incorporates morals into its practice that could address the food crisis problem. The world will require 70% more food by 2050, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,[4] which is at the cost of the land. Industrial farming is questioned to be sustainable for this demand of food production. Implementing agricultural spiritualism to a populated land relieves stress from the land and allows for a sustainable food sourcing practice that minimizes environmental degradation.
The practice of agricultural spiritualism exercises sustainability. Agroecosystems, which nurture a space for humans and agriculture to cohabitate, provide a system for agricultural spiritualism to be implemented. In terms of agricultural and sustainability, spiritualism is a common ground as discussed in Reclaiming the spiritual Roots of Farming, “A sustainable agriculture, likewise, has personal, interpersonal and spiritual dimensions.”[3] The way current food systems are implemented and practiced would provide a space for transition to agricultural spiritualism across more cultures. Many broken food systems would benefit from a connection between the spirit of the land and the spirit of the farmer to address the food crisis. Spiritual alterations in agriculture allow for a harmonious relationship with the earth.[4] The benefits of practicing agricultural spiritualism include seeking harmony in the way people live. By reconnecting with the land, people understand its value. It forms a harmonious relationship between people and the land to be able to create a space for sustainable living. Ickerd mentions, “To farm and live sustainably, we must be willing to openly proclaim the spirituality of sustainability. We must reclaim the sacred in food and farming.”[3]
Implementation
Practices related to agricultural spiritualism are being implemented in countries like Thailand and India. In India, agricultural spiritualism is rooted in ideas based on Mahatma Gandhi’s agrarian legacy.[5] It is practiced in this manner to reflect a nonviolent agricultural culture along with good food that is not reflected in industrial agricultural practices.[5] Gandhi’s Agrarian Legacy focuses on the social needs of village India. For example, Mahatma Gandhi’s successors are implementing these practices through farm-ashrams. Ashrams are spiritual centers and communities. In these farm-ashrams, which “emphasize the dignity of human labor and promote ‘bread-labor, people are encouraged to actively contribute to the food making processes to be able to consume that food.[5]
A program in Thailand, Moral Rice, connects farmers with spirituality through Buddhism while practicing organic farming. The purpose of this method is to cleanse the farmers’ spirit so the rice is purified and the consumers are consuming both spiritually and agriculturally purified rice.[5] The practice of Buddhadasa is working to re-dignify the profession of farming.[5] In Religion and Sustainable Agriculture: World Spiritual Traditions and Food Ethics by Alexander Kaufman said that, “In the last few decades, the concept of ‘Buddhist agriculture’ has been advanced by Thai environmental activists, farmer leaders, and socially engaged Buddhist monks.”[5]
Presence within religions
One area in which the relationship between religion and agriculture is visible and encouraged is within the ethnic communities of The Tikar, Aghem, Chamba and Ngemba located in The Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon in Africa.[6] It is common throughout this region to observe and recognize how their religious interpretations of their surroundings have encouraged the development and emphasis on agriculture as a community. Christian European missionaries would come to Africa in order to spread religion, but ended up spreading the teachings of agriculture and its impacts on society.[6] The people of the Bamenda Grassfields, because of their development being rooted in traditional Christianity, see farming as a religious act because of the belief that the Supreme Being has commanded them to till the earth and have dominion over it. The farmers grow their crops and organize their fields parallel to the control that their Supreme Being has over them as humans or mortal beings. Everything done is in respect to the powerful one and that they have blessed the people of the land with the gift to food and essentially energy and life itself.[6]
There is also a strong religious connection with agriculture within the Pagan groups who believed that their connections with the spirits would create a positive relationship with the land.[2] Many rituals surrounding the planning for planting seasons and harvests along with corresponding feasts rooted many early agricultural societies with spiritual expressions.[2] All of these practices all also corresponded with the natural cycle of the seasons or the cycle of life making the process of agricultural cultivation a very spiritual process. The Pagans even had specific gods and deities specifically related to earthly matters such as growth and creation.[2]
Historically it has been noted that Buddhist communities also faced hardship when their focus shifted to materialistic matters, yet were prosperous and happy during times of agricultural focus.[7] There is also a myth grounded in the Aggañña Sutta which explains how the Buddhist people were able to grow and harvest food easily until they became clouded by “the selfish desire to control nature”.[7]
BACK TO THE PRESENT
We decided what technological innovations to introduce based on what we believed would enrich us without any regard for the impact such innovations would have on the larger biotic community—and therefore on us! In introducing those innovations we usually assumed we already knew all we needed to know to proceed without caution. We behaved as if the biotic community belonged to us, rather than entertaining the possibility that we, together with all other organisms, belonged to the biotic community. Nothing that we now know about how we know, or about the workings of the biotic community, justifies continuing down that path. We are not “conquerors” of the biotic community, we are simply “plain members and citizens” of it. So in the present and in the future, good/ better science, and good/better agriculture, it might seem, should spend more of its resources mapping nature’s interconnections, and less treating organisms like arbitrary collections of interchangeable parts. It might spend more time ensuring the future productivity of agriculture by learning to understand the complex effects operating among organisms, and between organisms and the environment, and less inventing new technologies to address singular production problems, or singular disease problems.
Literature and Sources:
9. Leopold Center for sustainable agriculture
10. Spiritual Farming: A Tool for a Sustainable Agriculture Revolution: A Review. By: R. Ajaykumar, B. Balamurali, K. Sivasabari, R. Vigneshwaran. Arcc Jornuals, first online published: 16. 7. 2022
11. “Reclaiming the Spiritual Roots of Farming”. By John Ickerd, University of New Hampshire, 2001.
References:
- Origins of agriculture. Charles A. Reed, International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. The Hague. 1977. ISBN 978-3-11-081348-7. OCLC 857492387.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d “Ancient Roots, Historical Challenges”. pluralism.org. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Ickerd, John. “Reclaiming the Spiritual Roots of Farming”. University of New Hampshire, 2001. Archived from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Whitney Sanford, A. (December 2014). “Why We Need Religion to Solve the World Food Crisis”. Zygon. 49 (4): 977–991. doi:10.1111/zygo.12133.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f LeVasseur, Todd; Parajuli, Pramod; Wirzba, Norman, eds. (2016). Religion and Sustainable Agriculture: World Spiritual Traditions and Food Ethics. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-6799-2.[page needed]
- ^ Jump up to:a b c Lang, Michael Kpughe (June 15, 2018). “The role of religion in agriculture: reflections from the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon since pre-colonial times”. Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies. 7 (2): 54–73.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Falvey, J. Lindsay (2005). Religion and Agriculture: Sustainability in Christianity and Buddhism. Adelaide: The Institute for International Development. ISBN 0975100025.
NOTE :
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