Biodynamic Farming Heals the Farmer

Biodynamic Farming Heals the Farmer

The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Being a Jungian analyst, I am always on the alert for synchronicities. This morning this Martin Luther King, Jr. quote from www.Gratefulness.org appeared in my inbox, accentuating a conversation that I had yesterday with dear friend and fellow Biodynamic practitioner Michael. We were discussing what Biodynamic farming is, really. Is it healing the earth? He thought not. No, Biodynamic farming heals the farmer and the farmer’s relationship to the earth, changing his or her practices in how he or she treats the earth.

And then this e-mail arrives in my mailbox this morning. Synchronicities are conformation. It is how we know that we are on the right path, or not. I learned this in my training as a Jungian analyst, testing any interpretation that I might make against what happens next. What is said, or not. How do I feel? It is a way of learning to navigate unconscious waters.

This can be applied in the natural world as well. If we put out an idea, and then wait and see if it is confirmed by outer events: by someone saying something to us out of the blue, by the appearance of an animal or plant that has special significance, or, perhaps, by a dream, we are entering a communication on a subtle energy level. It is a very different way of approaching each other and ourselves: that receptivity to listen and wait and not dominate a situation with what we think is true. It is a way we access resources that we have forgotten that we have, that we are fully capable of developing, resources that it is critical that we do develop.

This is the real gift of the practice and discipline called Biodynamic agriculture. Healing our own methods of approaching the world, and especially, ourselves.