Reciprocity

This concept of “returning the gift” is not just a philosophical idea, but rather a bio-physical fact of life. It is woven into the fabric of nature and can be observed in all layers of life. It can be seen in the mighty old growth trees and their symbiotic relationship with the mycorrhizal fungi and it can be seen in the human gastro-intestinal tract where beneficial bacteria help us to digest our food and protect our bodies from invading pathogens. In fact, reciprocity can be felt in every breath you take, for the oxygen that breaths life into you is the result of the plants who breathed in CO-2 and in return gave oxygen.

In nature symbiosis is the norm and many ancient cultures saw mother earth and the fellow beings we share this world with (plants, animals, fungi, insects etc.) who all live by the covenant of reciprocity as wise teachers. These were cultures that taught their young that when we receive a gift from the Earth we must in turn give back to the Earth. This is the way eco-systems thrive and become ancient resilient communities of diverse life. Communities of abundance, regeneration, and beauty that foster the unfolding of beings of many shapes and sizes into ever higher levels of complexity, beauty and uniqueness.

Many humans in the modern world have forgotten what it means to be part of a community of life (eco-system) based in reciprocity. We have been told the story of “consumers” and “natural resources”, “profit margins” and the illusion of scarcity. We humans now face a choice, we can either revitalize the ancient knowledge and way of living that honors the gifts mother earth shares with us by giving back to her in return, or we can choose to define ourselves as “consumers”, “takers” and live with a parasitic relationship to the living planet that sustains us. One path leads to abundance, true fulfillment, understanding, inter-connectivity, spiritual unfolding, health, longevity, peace, and joy… and the other leads to the host organism (the Earth) having to expel the parasitic presence we have chosen to become and the collapse of modern civilization. There is no middle road. We have pushed the eco-systems to the breaking point and the systems our centralized ‘consumer’ society is built upon will inevitably collapse in the face of soil depletion/erosion, unstable climate, and resource depletion. The earth now calls those of us who wish to walk a path with a heart towards a brighter future to give back to her for what which we as a collective have taken.

Choosing to walk to the path of reciprocity can take many forms through our choices as individuals. The form of our expression can range from composting, mulching, planting a garden, planting a food forest, teaching children to care for plants (and the soil they grow in) and expressing gratitude to mother earth through closely observing her living systems and seeing what they can teach us about how we can come into balance with the ecosystems. There are countless opportunities for us to give back to mother earth and the limits are only defined by our imagination. Each and everyone of us can look inward to discover our own unique gifts and through living through the lens of gratitude and symbiosis we can allow those unique gifts to form a reciprocal relationship with the living planet that sustains us all.

In choosing to discover and utilize our gifts to give back to the living planet that gives so much for us we are embarking on a path of aligning with the forces of regeneration. When we align with nature to heal to soil, the air, the water and our relationship to all facets of the Earth and beyond we are really embarking on the path to heal ourselves. To give our energy to nurture life and align with the creative momentum of nature is a path to receiving medicine for the soul.

In this book I will offer the techniques and information that will enable you to be able to give back to the living soil through composting your kitchen and yard waste. This act goes far beyond just creating a valuable garden resource for producing more nutritious and delicious food, it means helping bring resilience back to the living soil and sequestering atmospheric CO-2 into the ground.

Each of can choose to be a helping healing presence or a cancer cell on this living planet we call home… indifference, inaction, and excuse making to justify the norms of our toxic modern society are choices that align with being a cancer… planting seeds, caring for the soil, plants, and our fellow beings with our hands and our hearts means having hope for a tomorrow where all can thrive, learn and unfold together in abundance. The path has a fork, and which path we walk is our choice… one path has a hand full of seeds and a heart full of hope, what the other  leads towards is too dark and empty for most of us to comprehend… we can be an agent of reciprocity and regeneration or the straw that broke the camel’s back. The time to choose is now.