I just got back from a beautiful concert in Arvada to celebrate a couple of friends' birthdays. While I was sitting there in between sets, a new acquaintance and I were talking about my eating local food for a month (prompted because I had to turn down offers of delicious cake and snacks), and the feeling of overwhelm at the destruction of our world, the feeling of not knowing where to begin...she asked me, right now, where would you begin? And I started talking about the current issues I'm involved or interested in (Nuclear Guardianship around the proposed highway and bike bath through Rocky Flats, the Belo Monte Dam breaking ground in Brazil, the proposed expansion of the Gross Reservoir Dam right here), and then the music started, and we let the harmonies and the night sky wash over me. And I sat with that question, and looked at the moon rising over the amphitheater, and I realized, I wanted to answer that question again.
I thought about this eating local thing, how I haven't really had a clear explanation for why I want to do it, just that I do...and I realize that I've been a farmer for the past five years, living for a number of them in a rural farming community where food is the central part of life, and even now that I'm living in town, I chose to work at a grocery store in the produce department because food is something I love and care about...and I realized that my answer about where to start isn't really about what pressing issue is most important (or at least it's not all about that), but about starting from where I am, finding my power, my passion, and from that place of strength connecting to all that is...
As I tell people I can't eat what they are graciously offering, I think about discipline and focus...how it seems to me that focus can take us in two directions:
The first is to choose something that is important, make that the most important thing in our lives, and begin to see it as the only important thing, that others are clearly mistaken about their priorities, to get until we are focused on such a small piece of the world that we lose perspective. In this way it is about creating a hierarchy of importance, and placing yourself or your beliefs at the top of that hierarchy, in competition with others who don't share your perspective about what really needs to happen.
The other way is to choose something to focus on, commit to your focus, and to use that intimate knowledge you gain as a way to connect to all those around you, to learn to see the connections beneath the apparent separateness. But this way is so much harder, so hard to get to a place where others' truths do not threaten your own merely by being different, to get to a place where wisdom can flow from a deep connection to the earth and yourself, and you can see clearly how things are and are not.
A teacher of mine speaks about digging wells for water: you can dig a little here and a little there, but if you want to get water, you just need to choose one spot and dig deep until you reach it.
So I guess what I'm trying to say, is that starting with food works for me, and I think that is a big part of what I am trying to do here this month. Start conversations, really think about why I make the choices I make in my life, to explore further reaches of the dance between what I believe and how I live, and to challenge myself to not fall back on this arbitrary distinction of "local" food as a wall, but rather approach it as a teacher and a way to connect to my surroundings, my beliefs, and my community.
Thank you for reading, and good night!
-Seth
I thought about this eating local thing, how I haven't really had a clear explanation for why I want to do it, just that I do...and I realize that I've been a farmer for the past five years, living for a number of them in a rural farming community where food is the central part of life, and even now that I'm living in town, I chose to work at a grocery store in the produce department because food is something I love and care about...and I realized that my answer about where to start isn't really about what pressing issue is most important (or at least it's not all about that), but about starting from where I am, finding my power, my passion, and from that place of strength connecting to all that is...
As I tell people I can't eat what they are graciously offering, I think about discipline and focus...how it seems to me that focus can take us in two directions:
The first is to choose something that is important, make that the most important thing in our lives, and begin to see it as the only important thing, that others are clearly mistaken about their priorities, to get until we are focused on such a small piece of the world that we lose perspective. In this way it is about creating a hierarchy of importance, and placing yourself or your beliefs at the top of that hierarchy, in competition with others who don't share your perspective about what really needs to happen.
The other way is to choose something to focus on, commit to your focus, and to use that intimate knowledge you gain as a way to connect to all those around you, to learn to see the connections beneath the apparent separateness. But this way is so much harder, so hard to get to a place where others' truths do not threaten your own merely by being different, to get to a place where wisdom can flow from a deep connection to the earth and yourself, and you can see clearly how things are and are not.
A teacher of mine speaks about digging wells for water: you can dig a little here and a little there, but if you want to get water, you just need to choose one spot and dig deep until you reach it.
So I guess what I'm trying to say, is that starting with food works for me, and I think that is a big part of what I am trying to do here this month. Start conversations, really think about why I make the choices I make in my life, to explore further reaches of the dance between what I believe and how I live, and to challenge myself to not fall back on this arbitrary distinction of "local" food as a wall, but rather approach it as a teacher and a way to connect to my surroundings, my beliefs, and my community.
Thank you for reading, and good night!
-Seth
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