This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land!
Our agriculture and theirs (part 2): “The birds and the bees”
The economic and ecological cataclysm which America is now approaching at free-fall speed has not only been predicted by our most astute professional analysts, but prognosticated for many decades by the more prescient of our mystics and psychically gifted clairvoyants. The “bees” in our subtitle will speak for themselves in the latter part of this essay, but here “birds” refers to these high-flying, soaring practitioners of the mystic arts, the inspired promoters of what has been called “esoteric Christianity.” The figure that usually comes to mind in discussions of this group is Edgar Cayce, but I am unfamiliar with the voluminous record of his readings, and do not know if he made any prophecies specifically on the subject of agriculture. But one seer who did was Rudolph Steiner, whose detailed instructions for “biodynamic” farming have enlightened humanity for decades with an agricultural model from which we can truly derive a sustainable future, and hopefully rescue ourselves from the ecological dead end into which agribusiness is fast driving us. “Their” agriculture is high tech, highly industrialized and chemically toxic to human health; Jesus taught that we can “know them by their fruits,” and nothing is more apparent than that the “fruit’ of Big Agra is rotten to the core, and inimical to human nutritional health. Steiner, on the other hand, envisions the small-scale farm as a kind of mystic entity: the biodynamic synergy of its well-planned, complementary parts creating a whole that is preternatural, a kind of mystical presence with its own quasi-spiritual identity; agriculture is not quite a sacrament, but perhaps we could describe the land as a “sacramental,” a means to spiritual self-development. Steiner’s inspired and inspiring approach to agronomy deserves our most careful reading!
Indeed, Steiner must be seen as nothing less than the genius of modern bio-intensive and organic agricultural methods, and we will have much more to say about his prescriptions in future writings. But for the present, we turn to another those two luminaries who appeared on the mystical scene shortly before Steiner: G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky. I am not aware of any specifically agricultural writing by these two Eurasian mystics, but they inspired quite a following among whom was an avid student and to some extent amanuensis of theirs, John G Bennett, whose eventual mission here in America had a pronounced agrarian character. I was recently introduced to Bennett’s work by Daniel Liszt, who as “Dark Journalist” serves as a kind of contemporary curator of all things esoteric. (His weekly podcast is highly recommended to this with an interest in this area.) It is to the piece by Bennett that Daniel read from which so excited me that I hasten to share it with my readers:
Our present society, based on great institutions that control economic resources and political power, tends to strengthen the materialistic and egoistic sides of human nature. We need a new kind of society in which concern for needs of others and of Nature as a whole will predominate over self-interest and fear. One obvious need for such a society is to change our eating habits so that the whole world can be kept from starvation. We need to be more self-sufficient and less dependent upon vast inhuman organizations.
All agree that the world is facing a food crisis, though few admit its true gravity. The artificial stimulation of agriculture by mechanization and synthetic fertilizers is impoverishing the soil. There is another scarcely noticed effect: work on the land has lost its charm and become intolerably dull. There is in developed and undeveloped countries alike a flight from the land that cannot be reversed unless life on the land is made exciting and rewarding as it was in ancient times. It is useless to call for more effort to produce food and deny the producers a worthwhile life. It is typical of great institutions to ignore the human factor. Unfortunately, even in small societies, concern for the general welfare is paid lip service rather than readiness to make the sacrifices that are needed.
Unfortunately, concern for others can be translated into effective action only by those who are working for their own self-perfecting. Only people who sincerely wish to give rather than take, to overcome their own weaknesses rather than exploit the weaknesses of others, can create a society that will survive in the hard times ahead. The hard times are themselves a necessary factor in self-perfecting. This is one reason why schools of wisdom can become active when mankind is approaching a time of crisis. The task ahead is now very clear. We must demonstrate that communities engaged in food production can provide a really good way of life. This calls for a new kind of society. We believe it can be created from small beginnings.
THE CLAYMONT SOCIETY
The task is to create a community that will be able to maintain itself under difficult economic and social conditions. For this, it must produce the main necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing, recreation, and as the foundation of it all, a shared spiritual quest for self-perfecting.1
Please note the lines I have emphasized in boldface italic. If this was the situation in Bennet’s day, in the middle of the 20th century, how much more does it speak to our impending economic collapse today? Try as I might, I doubt that I could write with such succinctness the urgency of the task ahead, and the direction in which it leads us that Bennet so masterfully expresses in these few lines; there is no need to reinvent the wheel here – we can make Bennet’s manifesto our own! And Bennett understands so well the importance of the carrot as well as the stick: the stick is that if we don’t recover our agrarian roots, we have no hope for a livable future. But beyond this existential necessity, there’s the positive side of working the land, which Bennett trenchantly observes has somehow gotten lost. There is a glory in agriculture that consists of understanding the land as God’s gift to man, and of improving the land as man’s assigned task; the unfolding understanding of the tremendous complexity of biological life and ecosystems is enough to cengage the mind of any human being for many lifetimes; no matter how much we come to grasp the intricacy of life processes within and without the human organism, the process of learning is concomitant with a growing sense of awe at the greatness of creation and of its Creator. If we are to live up to our designation as homo sapiens, it is this continual growth of knowledge of how life works that is our distinct role in the life of the planet, for we alone (that we know of) have the capacity to understand these divinely instituted laws of nature, not to subvert them as modern scientism seems bent on doing through its bio-pharmaceutical and other monstrous institutions, but to channel them into a more productive and beautiful human environment, which respects the role of the rest of the ecosystem and seeks to protect it, not to exploit it.
But here we come to the crux, again and again, of human motivation. All of us begin in ego-driven self-promotional paradigms, but the purpose of these baser tendencies is to give us something to transcend, to transmute into behavior that has a higher, more socially and ecologically-friendly motivation; Christians once called it the Kingdom of God, but it goes by other names in other contexts. In the same document cited above, Bennett calls it “self-perfecting.” Anyone put off by the alleged occultism of the so-called “mystery schools” (as Dark Journalist and many others tend to refer to them) may be reassured by Bennett’s terminology. He refers to them as “wisdom schools,” and for my part I much prefer his appellation. But whatever we choose to call them, their beneficent character and inclination to come to the fore in times of social crisis to offer humanity guidance is to the point:
Progress in self-perfecting is not automatic; it requires use of the right methods andthe determination to persevere against all discouragement. Very few people can achieve it alone; and, for this reason, ‘Schools of Wisdom” have existed from time immemorial to provide instruction and to create environments in which all can contribute to the common aim. Although such schools have always been present they are little in evidence except in times of crisis and change, when they extend their activities to enable more people to prepare themselves for the task ahead.2
To their credit and for our benefit, these spiritual “birds” continue their overflight of human society, and do their best to help us through the crises created by our immature and imperfect understanding of how to arrange our social, political and economic order for everyone’s true good. Their works are easily available online for free or at nominal cost, and the students of these “schools” are by no means “navel-gazers;” they are interested in providing practical guidance for humanity in crisis; the wisdom they profess is timeless, but they themselves are the most tuned in to their own times, and the remedies they propose, such as Steiner’s biodynamic farming protocols, are just the ticket to a viable future for all of us. Thus much for our birds, let’s move on to our bees:
Ocean Robbins is a food health expert extraordinaire who has made the rounds of the alternative health scene for years. His Food Revolution hub recently released an excellent piece under his authorship entitled “Why the Global “Insect Apocalypse” is Concerning & What You Can Do About It.” A short summary is published at the beginning of the piece:
Over the past couple of decades, insect populations around the globe have plummeted. While that might sound lovely if you’re thinking about mosquitoes and no-see-ums, it’s actually putting us on a collision course with an environmental catastrophe. Without pollinating insects, our food supply is at risk. And without insects in general, the entire web of terrestrial life would likely collapse. So what’s causing the insect die-off, and what can we do to reverse it?
I strongly urge readers to read the entire article...it is a great meta-analysis of the “insect apocalypse” now besetting us. Those unfamiliar with this pressing ecological issue really must read it to get a well-rounded understanding, including a review of some recent studies which help quantify the crisis. That this is happening as described is beyond dispute: anyone who’s been paying attention has noticed the dearth of bees and other pollinating insects in recent years. That this problem is largely anthropogenic (a result of human activities) is also unarguable, IMHO. Which factors play how much of a role remains to be seen, but that human activity is responsible is a proposition that cannot, at this point, be in any way gainsaid.
We shall therefore dispense with discussion of these self-evident issues, and move on to Robbins’ consideration of causes and remedies. He lists the following as key contributors to the problem:
• Agricultural intensification (industrialization) → monoculture
• Pesticides/Genetic Bioengineering of crops
• Synthetic fertilizers
• Deforestation
• Invasive insect and plant species
• Urbanization and light pollution
Robbins also adds “global warming” as a key cause, but because we question the anthropogenic cause of this, at least as is currently proposed (CO2 emissions, etc), we’ll omit this from consideration. Missing from his list is EMF pollution, which has been credibly implicated in beehive collapse, among other problems in the insect world, so will add this to our list.
He then goes on to propose five remediative measures:
• Move away from monocultures
• Allow for more green space
• Enact public policies
• Plant pollinator-friendly plants and trees
• Buy locally grown foods
Whilst all of these measures deserve our support, 1) they do not go far enough and 2) they are unlikely to be implemented in our current land ownership paradigm.
So in closing, let’s consider how true land reform, that would restore to each American family its rightful share of arable land for productive use, would address ALL of these issues automatically. If the arable land is redistributed to promote a reversion to small-scale, family farming with a bio-intensive methodology:
• Monoculture would quickly be replaced by biodiversity, as this is the hallmark of the biodynamic agricultural approach.
• Synthetic, toxic pesticides would no longer be used, replaced by organic and natural methods of crop protection.
• Synthetic fertilizers would be replaced by organic-intensive methods of soil replenishment, ultimately making synthetic fertilizers unnecessary, as the nutrients they are intended to replace would be abundant in the soil
• Small-scale agriculture will naturally tend to local distribution of surplus, as opposed to international commerce (though any surplus above local need would still be exported). This would help minimize the vector for invasive species of insects. Only “heirloom” crops would be planted, therefore minimizing invasive plant species.
• Pollinator-friendly plants and trees would necessarily be planted as part of the biodynamic farming protocol.
• The universal opportunity to engage in small-scale agriculture through the land reform we advocate would lead to rapid de-urbanization, drastically reducing the damage of light and emf pollution.
• Reforestation is a must, and this would be a key component of the land-reform package; swaths of land less useful for farming will be set aside as preserves for flora and fauna (this will be elaborated in future essays on the subject).
The “insect apocalypse” is a real crisis, which is symptomatic of our present ecological demise. It can be reversed, but only with radical measures to redistribute our nation’s land to all those willing to put their shoulders to the wheel and reclaim it for eco-friendly agriculture and soil replenishment. Our farmland is our greatest national resource, and is God’s gift to our people if we are willing to honor it as such, and legislate accordingly. May God bless our efforts to rescue it from the avaricious and sacrilegious manacles of agribusiness and put it back where it belongs, in the hands of a Recovenanted nation of farmers and ranchers who with grateful hearts undertake the task of renewing the American dream of a peaceable agrarian republic dedicated to the service of humanity; serving God through responsible use of his invaluable gift of arable land, that we pray will soon again teem with birds and bees!