Zero tillage is synonymous to do nothing agriculture. I encountered this inherent agricultural production practice in Gandara, Samar, one of the site research management units (SRMU) of the Farming Systems Development Project for Eastern Visayas (FSDP-EV) during the 80’s being a member of the multi-disciplinary team. We observed a rice field prepared manually by simply stepping-in the existing vegetation of weeds and rice straw from previous harvest or by using a wooden rotavator pulled by a carabao because the land was soft and wet. When the field was clean, rice seeds were broadcasted and the farmer returned only at harvest time.
During the first permaculture convergence last Feb. 12-14, 2010 at Elicon Hotel, Cebu City, a practitioner from Bohol pointed out and justified the do nothing but a lot of thinking kind of crop production. Indeed, this is a paradox, a “statement contrary to common belief, or one that seems contradictory, unbelievable or absurd but may actually be true in fact.”
To me, doing nothing is actually doing something. Similarly, inaction is in itself a momentary response or reaction. We are endowed with heads and minds to think. A lot of thinking is doing something. “Women basically use their right intuitive brain and they have the ability to take the whole picture. Men on the other hand, use the left-analytical brain and interested more on parts or details. Androgynous thinking employs both the left and right brain with the ability to integrate concrete and abstract realities” (Peck, 1997).
When I attended the Christian life program (BCLP No. 2 in Mactan), I was introduced to radical conversion. Radical comes from the Latin word, radix meaning root. Radical is synonymous to fundamental. In sociology, a radical is a left-leaning anarchist while a fundamentalist is a right-wing extremist. Anyway, those who think deeply about fundamentals are radicals. A radical action stems from a radical thinking”. Now, I understand why a close brother knight (K of C Council 7507) labeled me as a deep thinker. I thought he was referring to me as someone knowledgeable but I am not. However, I am radically thinking with integrity. I tend to “integrate the multiple reasons and dimensions of our incredibly complex world.” I am a horticulturist by training but as I integrate all the other aspects/domains of permaculture, I become a generalist. “To think and act with integrity requires that we fully experience the tensions of competing thoughts and demands” (Peck, 1997). Fortunately, cooperation not competition is the essence of permaculture.
On our way to attend the session of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape (CCPL) last April 14, 2010 for PhilPA’s visibility, Mr. Joel Lee and I argued as to what slogan to adopt. “Weaving the web of life” (metaphorical) is his motto. Personally, my original catchphrase was, “I love farming”. Now, it graduated to a higher level, “I love life and living” (literal). Permaculture is an integrated and holistic approach signifying wholeness, entirety and completion of life and living.
Dr. M. Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled and Beyond: Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety) claims that doing nothing for at least 2 hours a day, allows him to take time to think, pray and organize his priorities to be more efficient. As a psychiatrist, he concludes that building the best possible relationship or a community with their patients, healing will naturally occur without doing anything. Health and spiritual well-being is an important domain in permaculture. “We learn from good leaders and teachers who think well as our good examples to be efficient and to be able to live life fully”. The Philippine Permaculture Association (PhilPA) is a learning organization, a sustainable community. I believe that it is our vocation, our calling to spread the good news about the ethics, concepts and principles of permaculture. Let us not simply be evangelizers but doers or practitioners. Employing the principles towards ecological balance, we need to think, believe and live. nmg
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