“TAO” for our comprehension of life

📄 原文標題：“TAO” for our comprehension of life 

✍️ 原出處：Agenda Gotsch，作者為 Ernst Götsch

🌐 原文連結：https://agendagotsch.com/en/syntropic-farming-principles-by-ernst-gotsch/

🤝 授權類型：CC BY-NC-ND 4.0  

First, to the content:

The following figure, to which I have given the name of 15 PRINCIPLES, NAMED:

’TAO’ FOR OUR COMPREHENSION OF LIFE [ALTERNATIVE TO OUR ACTUAL CONCEPT, CONCERNING LIFE]

is conceived in the form of a compendium, comprising 15 principles. Propositions, conclusions, resulting out of decades of questioning- and trying to create alternatives to our actual concept, concerning life and nature. Additionally to that former one, some reflections but how to act, so that our participation turns to be serviceable and beneficial for all submitted to- and affected ones by our interactions.

Parallel to that pondering about, I always was striving to put in practice the content of my conclusions, making countless experiments, in order to test the validity of my hypothesis: In Center-Europe first, and, since forty years now, continuing, doing the same, but mainly in the tropics.

In 1992, I began to write in words, and to design in numerous figures, those parts of my conclusions, which had seemed to me to be significant for our issue. From then on onwards, – since 27 years now – those principles turned into strict guidelines for all my interactions with the items, I am dealing with. This is, as a farmer, working with water-cycle, soil, plants and animals. And this, applying them, carrying them out in most diverse contexts, concerning vegetation, soil- texture and -composition, as well as in terms of climatic conditions, on the places where I have-, or had the privilege, to participate, ranging from arid, sub-desert places, to per-humid rain-forest, and from sea-level up to areas in great altitudes.

Main focus, during my more than 6O years of constant and intensive professional engagement, always was – often beginning on so called ‘poor soils – to attain, combining high productivity of ‘my’ agro-eco-systems, with vigor and health of ‘my’ plants and animals, and, at the same time, to get a positive balance, considering established life, as well as energetically.

Questioning and testing, again and again, striving to understand the ‘why’ and the ‘how’, and in order to come to terms with many contradictions between our established knowledge and the real world. And then, to translate this in action , and this in a way, to be able, to transform our activity of cultivating food into a joyful undertaking, achieving to realize it , moved by inner pleasure, and to get it at a point , to become serviceable for the eco-system, in which we intervene and beneficial for all the submitted to-, and affected by our interactions.

Those principles, when understood, and then put in practice in our efforts to achieve aliments, abundantly and of best quality, as one of the by- effects out of our interactions with of the realm of plants, allow us:

– To get it attained at low costs, materially and energetically,
– To get it done in harmony with nature and
– resulting, that our activity actually turns to be beneficial, for the farmer, for the ecosystem and for all others, influenced by his operation.

Furthermore, adopting in our practice, what I suggest, we will come to an agriculture based on processes, in which, doing it, the biggest external input necessary to get it functioning, will be knowledge. Knowledge in terms of microbiology, mycorrhiza, soil biology, water-cycle, eco-physiological properties and sociology of plants and animals dealt with etc., etc.
… and, last but not least, ethics: Put in practice in all our interaction the principles of unconditional love and cooperation and living in accordance to the saying of the ‘categoric imperative’.

The result of working in harmony with nature, returning to be an organ-like- , and at the same time, ‘useful’- and con-creative part of it, and no longer ‘commander-in-chief’, generates in whom attains to put it in practice, a sensation of deep joy. Joy to have returned to be in good hands of mother earth.

Second, for the lecturer:

The content, assertions, which compose those principles, referred to above, could have the property, that to many lecturers they may seem to be quite strange, …or at least ‘un-usual’, or, let’s say, derived out of a dissimilar universe to the one, we are part of. – Despite of this, I ask you, before you will reject it all at once, to try at least, to understand and perhaps – later on – attain to perceive the full range of ideas and deductions, which, after all, have brought me to this new world: A world of harmony, of peace. A world of life.

I recommend to consider, that our way of perceiving, often is influenced strongly, by what we see, looking into our mirror, and less by that, which is present in our surrounding, the real world. This mainly, because of our believe that we are-, — and for being convinced of it, and behaving and acting according to it, as if we were ‘— The intelligent Species’. [ We are? Or we modestly are only part of an intelligent system?]. That above mentioned belief, and in its consequence, our behavior resulting out of it, turns us to be subject to behave in an autistic way, and, in consequence, to compile what we see, looking in our mirror, to a stock of an axiomatic framework, called ‘truths’ and ‘facts’, on which not rarely the believes and behavior of entire societies and whole civilizations were-, respectively, are based upon.

One of those ‘truths’, ‘facts’ is, that the intra- and inter-specific relations of life are based upon competition and rough concurrency. … And this all, because we, as individuals and species mainly act, following this pattern [of competition and rough concurrency]. The consequences, resulting out of this, ‘error committed in our interpretation of natural laws’, were reason directly and indirectly – and still are! – for many problems, which often have caused-, cause deep sufferings, or lead-, or have led to the disappearance of entire civilizations.

We actually know it, but for not being ready to-, or – perhaps not able to want [?] – to pay the price to do, what we know, that we should do, we prefer to ignore it.

Critiques or sayings of some wise members of our species, pointing at this type of believes, or errors committed, normally are rejected or interpreted in a way, in order to get them arranged in a way, to fit into the dominant paradigm.

Third, annotation to the terminology, to some not common words, expressions, I have opted for:

To the meaning of most of those ones, the attentive lecturer will come to by himself. Others, in fact all of them, also are being used in contexts, which will reveal their significance in a series of not yet edited articles written-, and figures designed by me. [Their publication is being planned to happen in the course of the next months.]

15 PRINCIPLES NAMED:

’TAO’ FOR OUR COMPREHENSION OF LIFE [ALTERNATIVE TO OUR ACTUAL CONCEPT, CONCERNING LIFE]

I – Studying the functioning and the comportment of life on this planet, and also life in its interactions with-, and in its relations to Planet Earth, and that latter one, seeing as a macro-organism, we can attribute to it clearly functional characteristics, let us say, ’instrumental’ properties and, as a such, as integral part of an ‘instrumentarium’, Planet Earth has created for itself, in order to realize its ‘complexifying’, syntropic strategy of being.

II – Perceiving life in the mode, outlined above, we will observe, the instrumental- and functional concept in the coming into existence of all species, which appeared, which will appear: Each species, which arises, appears in order to realize its specific tasks, and to fulfill its function.

III – Each individual of each generation of all species appears, preconditioned by which it preceded. And, by means of its metabolism, it modifies its surrounding and codefines in this way-, shares-, takes part in the definition of that, which will succeed it.

IV – The appearance of new genotypes of already existing species happens for the reason of altered life-conditions, to be coped with. The coming forth of new species is required, when tasks have occurred to be realized, whose realization are not yet codified [is not included in the potential codes of the existing ones]

V – The instrumentality of life in relation to the macro-organism Planet Earth remains the same; the tasks to be realized – however – are subject to continuous change, due to unceasing changes, concerning life condition. Those changes are caused by endo- as well as by exogenic factors.

VI – The periodical regeneration of eco-systems, as well as the creation of new ones, happens, being realized patch after patch, those last ones comparable to constituent pieces of a puzzle. This process follows patterns, equivalent to the generative reproduction on individual level. On eco-system-level, this process is called ‘natural species- succession’, which by its side is the means by which life moves in space and time.

VII – Life as a whole on our planet, together constitutes one only, big macro-organism. Its entire functioning corresponds to that one of an organism: all is connected and interdependent.

VIII – The huge fungal network, proliferating in top-soils, rich in organic matter, and covered by an abundant litter-layer upon it, creates the precondition for a strong immune-system of our soils, which highly influentially fortifies vigor and health of our plants.

XIX – ‘Pests’ and diseases, as well as predators, are integrants of the – let us say – “department for the optimization of life processes’. The criteria, they use, to intervene, is the optimization of life processes realized by the object [their potential prey], entrusted to their, [the predator’s], care, in the part of the eco-system, where that prey interacts.

X – Appetite and hunger are means, used by all living beings, to turn [also] that act of realizing their task and fulfilling their function, linked – directly or indirectly – to the act of eating-, ingesting- or absorbing their ‘food’, for them into an appeasing and attractive event.

XI – Each individual of each generation of all species appears equipped, to realize its task [s] and to fulfill its function [s] moved by inner pleasure, and also equipped, to communicate with all the other constituent members, ’cells’ of the macro-organism ‘LIFE’, of which integral part it is.

XII – The inter- and intra-specific relations – with exception of those of modern man and most of his, by him adopted and deformed domesticated animals – are based upon the principles of unconditional love and cooperation.

XIII – All species – with exception of modern man and most of his, by him adopted domesticated animals – act, based on the principles of the ‘Categoric Imperative’, formulated by Immanuel Kant [1724 – 1804], which says: “Act in a way, you would want, , that the principles, submitted to your interactions, be elevated immediately to principles of universal laws”. [This means, would be applied to yourself].

XIV – “The laws, according to which the macro-organism, part of which you are, are given” [pre- established]. “Not even to us, Gods of the Olympus, it is being incumbent upon, to make those laws by our own”. {Aesop, 700 B. C., letting Kronos say to man in one of his, [Aesop’s] parables.}

XV – A dis-harmonic interference of some of the entities, which together constitute a macro- organism, induces modifications in that latter one, which by its side will have the result, that the presence of the emitters of those dis-harmonic interferences will turn to be non- opportune. [Natural-, universal law.]

Ernst Götsch