LISTENING TO NATURE'S VOICE

by Alan Imai

Sensei Alan Imai, Associate Director of Shinji Shumeikai of America, serves as the Shumei Natural Agriculture International Project Coordinator.

"Gaia Symphony I, II & III" are beautiful documentaries masterfully directed by the Japanese filmmaker Jin Tatsumura. The three films began in the early 1990's as a collection of interviews with twelve extraordinary individuals, each distinguished in his or her own field, who have made significant contributions to society. Each strives to live in harmony with the earth and has achieved greatness, not through selfishness, but through the understanding of a larger reality -- one in which all living things are dependant upon each other. I would like to introduce two people from the movie, Mr. Reinhold Messner and Mr. Jacques Mayol, and talk about Natural Agriculture in relationship with their achievements.

Reinhold Messner, an Italian alpinist, has climbed all fourteen 8000-meter class peaks of the world without carrying oxygen. Eight thousand meters above sea level is a world of death. At 8000 meters (26,246 feet), there is only one-third the oxygen as at ground level and one-half the atmospheric pressure, it is minus 40 degrees centigrade; wind blows at 60 meters per second (135 miles per hour). In such an environment a person would normally lose clarity of thought in a few minutes, his organs would become swollen, he would have frostbite here and there, and he would be dead within a day. Usually when people try to climb the earth's highest mountains, they create a team of from five to fifty members, hire more than a hundred Sherpas to carry oxygen cylinders, food, radiophone systems, etc. The expedition takes more than one month as the team gradually sets camps in increasingly higher altitudes, and finally one or two persons will try to scale the peak. Messner said, "Life force is not something I have within myself. It exists infinitely, whirling around us. We take it into our body smoothly and expel it smoothly. When I could operate this action successfully, I could accomplish the expedition." During his climbs, Messner's pulse rate drops to one-half the normal rate, and blood circulates the necessary amount for necessary locations; his body actually changes to be able to maximize power with minimum energy. About his consciousness when he is in that stage of physical condition, he said, "I strongly feel I am a part of nature. There is no separation between myself and the surrounding water, grass, and wind. I am a part of the flow of something much bigger." Messner related to Tatsumura his belief that the only limiting factor for what is possible for a natural human body is the human mind and will. If any thoughts such as "ambition", "competition" "anxiety" and "fear" occur, he will not be able to succeed.

Jacques Mayol, a French ocean adventurer, learned from dolphins how to swim underwater and dive to great depths without oxygen for extended periods. He recorded diving more than 100 meters deep without oxygen in 1976, which was totally outside of what is possible according to human science. Before diving, he meditates; he thinks of himself as a dolphin. As he goes deeper and deeper, 30 meters, 50 meters, 70 meters, 100 meters, the conditions that occur to a dolphins' body begin to happen within Jacques' own physical body: His pulse rate dropped to 20 beats per minute, and his blood circulation concentrated to the heart and the brain, which are essential to maintain life. He said, "When you dive to great depths, calmness of mind is most important. If you lose your wits even a little bit, immediately your pulse rate leaps up and you cannot continue. You need to have a calmness, almost as if you forget you are not breathing." "In nature and in the universe, there is a concealed wisdom that we've never thought of. When we draw near to nature and harmonize with nature, there is infinite possibility." Jin Tatsumura says that when Mayol was deep in the sea, he forgot if he was a human being or a dolphin. First, he had a strong thought and eventually he achieved a state where he was totally released from that thought.

Reinhold's "I am a part of nature" "There is no separation between myself and the surrounding water, grasses, and winds" and Jacques' "We draw near to nature and harmonize with nature" are the same thing. In the Natural Agriculture world, regarding this oneness with nature, world famous Japanese nature farmer Mr. Masanobu Fukuoka described it as follows:

I think Mr. Fukuoka's approach to nature is exactly the same as that of Mr. Messner and Mr. Mayol.

Mokichi Okada, whom we call Meishusama, was the first person to practice Natural Agriculture and experience its wonderful results. Regarding Natural Agriculture, which Meishusama advocated, many people are interested in the agricultural techniques he used to grow vegetables and rice. Without learning how his heart became one with nature and his understanding of nature, just following, his actions will not automatically lead you to successful Natural Agriculture. Just as the average person cannot automatically accomplish what Reinhold and Jacques did, even when they try the same physical feats. With the average person's way of thinking and understanding nature, they cannot realize it. Even if we intellectually understand, unless we comprehend with experience, the human mind creates a limiting factor. Reinhold said, "You will fail in a moment when you have ambition, competition, anxiety, and fear." Jacques said, "If you lose your wits even a little bit, your pulse rate immediately begins to leap up." As Reinhold said, "Life force is not something I have within myself. It exists infinitely, whirling around us." And as Jacques said, "In nature and the universe, there is a concealed wisdom that we've never thought of." In Natural Agriculture, remember that in determining what and how to grow on the land, the land knows best and it will guide us.

As the founder of Natural Agriculture, Meishusama is telling us in human language what nature says. So, when we read his writings on Natural Agriculture, we should read his words as nature's voice. Meishusama said in his writings, "There are other believers, however, who, while not ignoring my teachings, are unable to free themselves from the long-held fertilizer superstition, and thus tend to slight my teachings, mixing in their own ideas -- with corresponding effects on the results achieved. Also, among the leaders are some that have interpolated their own ideas into my teachings. To tell the truth, with the Natural Agricultural method there is really no need for leaders. You should be able to understand it by yourself, if you just digest my teachings. For some reason, many people who do not follow my teachings faithfully tend to be more interested in the technical side of things. With this method, however, there is really no need to attribute any special importance to technique. If you just use your common sense, that should be plenty". Also, Meishusama said, "The principle of the Natural Agricultural method is an overriding respect and concern for nature. Nature can teach us everything." When you work with nature, as Mr. Fukuoka said, "You should be absorbed in taking care of the rice without looking aside. If you could work wholeheartedly without yourself..." Nature will guide us.

The amount of oxygen in the air 8000 meters above sea level is one third that of sea level, so we need to have oxygen cylinders; this is human, scientific knowledge. It is impossible for human beings to dive down l00 meters from the surface without the use of oxygen; this is also human, scientific knowledge. Scientific knowledge is limiting. However, Reinhold and Jacques taught us that possibility within nature is far beyond our imagination. For example, when we try to begin Natural Agriculture at a specific location and find that the soil is missing some important minerals, we bring in volcanic ashes from another place as a supplement. That is scientific knowledge. Instead of depending on science, we can accept the soil as it is and listen to nature's voices. Nature may provide gifts to us far greater than we expected. Meishusama said, "As the years progress -- from the first year to the second and from the second year to the third -- the harvest increases in direct proportion to the gradual decrease in fertilizer poisoning. Starting from the third year, a production increase of from 50 to l00 percent is a certainty ...Also, fertilizer-free agriculture increases production not only of rice but also of other grains, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, and everything else as well. I could thus eliminate current fears about food shortages. The above estimates, moreover, are based on the most conservative standards. A production increase of from 100 to 200 percent is actually possible. Considering that, after only a few years, there would arrive an all but unbelievable outcome filled with shouts of joy at the great increases in food production. Fertilizer-free agriculture also cuts labor requirements in half, which would solve at a stroke the world-famous overworking of Japanese farmers. Not only that; it has economic benefits as well, such as eliminating fertilizer cost. Taking everything into account, fertilizer-free agriculture would certainly produce a golden age of agriculture. The view that heaven begins with farming communities is certainly not a fool's dream". When we entertain doubts about the possibility, what Meishusama foresaw as a golden age of agriculture cannot be realized.

In Natural Agriculture, it is not only for Natural Agriculture farmers but also for every responsible person to listen to Meishusama, which is nature's voice. When we talk about nature in Natural Agriculture, we have to consider not only the vegetable garden in front of us, but also the invisible micro-organisms in the soil, the whole earth, the moon, the sun, and the stars and, more importantly, the spiritual aspect of them. Thoughts of human beings are especially powerful in affecting the results of Natural Agriculture. That is why even the consumers' thoughts and understanding of nature is so important to the success of Natural Agriculture. Meishusama also said, "It is necessary to get not only farmers but ordinary Japanese as well to understand this method. " Through their experiences, both Reinhold Messner and Jaques Mayol showed us that the mysterious power of nature is far greater than the human knowledge with which human beings have been trying to conquer nature. And they are demonstrating a new way of living to us. Our Natural Agricultural movement also provides the opportunity for everybody to think of how to live harmoniously with nature.

Jaques Mayol said, "We learn how to work with nature from dolphins. We must change our old thoughts, which are about conquering nature. And, we look for a new way of life, the way to draw near to nature through learning from nature. I believe that if children are raised by parents who share such thoughts, they will surely create a bright, healthy, prosperous future." When we become such parents, many of our children will be able to climb Mount Everest and will be able to dive with dolphins, and they will accomplish Natural Agriculture, which Meishusama himself experienced and predicted for human beings.

Resources:

Fukuoka, Masanobu. Nothingness III -Nature Farming.

Okada, Mokichi. A Great Agricultural Revolution.

Okada, Mokichi. The Triumph of Natural Agriculture.

Tatsumura, Jin. Whispering Gaia.

FROM SHUMEI MAGAZINE, VOL. 228, JULY/AUGUST, 2000