Friday, June 12, 2009

Shadow Farming


When I go into the garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The question I pose is… What is the garden you have been defrauding self of all this time in letting others do for you which should have done with your own hands? In relationships and life we all turn our back on some part of our inner ecology and decide not to farm that quadrant. It’s seductive to think that we are winning- by losing out in not taking responsibility for the aspect of self.

A well endowed to-do list is a relatively new addition to my life. The first 50 years have been steeped in family, philosophy, simple pleasures spiced with exploration and play in the depths of dimensionality. It’s been great. Now it’s time to grow up and give back.

So, I’m bloody boring these days, I’ve turned my tracking and mapping skills away from the rich deep water of the psyche and into the shallow end of USDA Organic rules and standards. The rules do not need me to either to make or break them but to hold them firmly in the light of their wholeness. Then to weave that forward into a vibrant container inclusive of the wholeness,.. the wholeness of the Organic producers, their production, and the employees who will monitor and verify it all.

It’s my karma yoga and takes me to the far edge and beyond my comfort zone.

At moments it’s even exciting, but it’s uber-geek paperwork which one can’t even boast about on Facebook; -Ro’s just completed a draft of an Organic Employee Notification. Woo Woo! I’m even okay with being that because for me it is the mirror work of; I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands, in that, I’ve let others handle the business of business. So I’m in the garden of USDA National Organic Program with my spade, and dig a bed, and it is exhilarating, frightening, and there are worse things in life than dying a geek.

Mapped along side the four directions as, North Mind, South Emotion, East Spirit, West Body, We stand in the middle of the circle facing one of those directions, I face East. The directions on either side are like right and left hand with most favoring one or the other. The direction at our back is home to the shadow. Interesting to note Carl Jung said that God lives in our shadows. For some I guess that is further incentive to stick with their winning game, maintain familiar drama and hope death takes them out before whatever it is they are avoiding taps them on the shoulder from behind…

The real bitch of it is, I started in the East… I never lost touch with the divine.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love it Ro - I love the work you do with your own hands and so appreciate that work. I am reminded of what and how I am doing my own work and and knowing where I let others do it for me. In this specific case, I am clear and happy that you are out in front doing the work that I / we will benefit from. Our right for Organics and it's accessibility is crucial and through you I get a glimpse of the fight. I'm not a soldier there and support you so in your skills and doing. Thanks for being in the trenches. Love to you always!! Melani