Organic Touchstone

By Thomas James Martin

Published Suite101 - April 7, 2002

This April as Joyce and I prepare the soil for our vegetable garden and visit the natural foods store in search of organically grown seedlings to set out, I, in a fit of abstraction, began contemplating the implications of the word, organic.

I wonder if there is a better word than organic to serve as a “touchstone” for our feelings and beliefs about Nature and perhaps also the nature of reality. A touchstone was originally a black stone (somewhat like flint) used to test the purity of gold and silver by the streak left on the stone when “scratched” by the metal. Thus, it has come to mean by connotation a standard by which other things are measured.

Organic is not just a word describing the farming or food produced without the use of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides, but is a word implying a certain world view.

If I rub my soul on the touchstone of Organic, I find that I enjoy working with nature, finding and following its laws to encourage growth and development rather than to force out the biggest and best with artificial means. With a growing thing, this means to plant the seed, use natural fertilizers, and see that it gets plenty of sunlight and water, and to give it space to get as big as its current genome intends it to be. My small organic apples are much more delicious than any supermarket apple, polished to waxy “perfection.”

The essential thing here is getting out of the way. Sure we can help Nature (We do have to introduce some fertilizer sometimes to help the plant flourish.), but the idea is to be a steward not an overbearing master.

In like fashion I find that when I am true to myself rather than trying to behave a certain way to impress a boss or some other human to whom I sometimes give too much power, my life flourishes anyway. I’m not sure if it matters if I get the next promotion or not. One thing I have learned for sure: All that “material, status-chasing stuff” will not make me any happier.
On the “organic touchstone” my streak shows me that I appreciate simple food cooked in simple ways. To flourish I need to give and receive love. I have also found that I like my life much better when I am thankful for great and small blessings that befall me each day.

The structure of my life has grown organically from the complex networks of nature, both seen and unseen. I have learned that the body is the only true healer. All the “nostrums and potions” in the world are but temporary palliatives of greater or lesser success to the body’s own healing processes. I try to get out of the way, use natural remedies, drink plenty of water, get lots of sunshine and fresh air.

Sometimes, I can let go enough to thrive as a human being.

Copyright 2002, Thomas James Martin, all rights reserved.


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