A Tickled Tilling

The context:

I argue that their relationship to their farming and‘Others’ resembles a form of religious life defined by asceticism, repetition, sacrifice, and an emphasis on spiritualism and purity. Their reserved relationships with the outside world, particularly in communicating their ideas on agriculture meanwhile recall the search for solitude of religious hermits. They reject a strategy of direct proselytising as attempting to persuade may involve compromises, it would mean revealing their difference and alienating themselves further from the wider community, and some of them question their ability to influence people and wider systems.

McMahon 'Biodynamic Farmers in Ireland: Transforming Society Through Purity, Solitude, and Bearing Witness'"

Steiner had a vitalist vision of the universe in which “ethereal” qualities infuse raw matter in order to give it life; this distinguishes living things from mere amalgamations of chemicals, however complex...We must confront this problem, not just as wine lovers and wine writers, but also as citizens who do not wish to live in, nor present to our children, a society in which pseudoscience and esoteric fantasies are considered reality. Irrational thinking, or reliance on mystical gurus with claims of clairvoyant intuition, does great harm to society.

Smith 'Biodynamics in The Wine Bottle"

When terrorist attacks occur and hundreds of people get killed or wounded, is this regarded by Iraqis as comparable to another day of car crashes in the United States?We might think so, because on the surface, life continues on--people go to work, they open up their shops just hours after an explosion on their street, people send their kids to school. But it has had a significant effect in terms of human investment. Those Iraqis--many of them middle class, a lot of the engineers, the doctors, the professionals needed to rebuild Iraq--will look at the headlines and say, "Why should I want to come back to Iraq? What is there to come back for?"

"Anxious Iraqi's Look at Uncertain Future"

The goal of this work is to advance understanding of the regional implications of the Iraq War by offering an assessment of trends, threats, and opportunities in the Middle East, drawing from extensive field-based research and primary sources.

"The Iraq Effect"

My vision (please forgive any and all soupy introductions--the ball on this topic can be pretty heavy):

What if the events in Iraq (i.e. a concluding 7-year occupation and 5 billion dollar investment) are activated on the same level as those Dr. Steiner witnessed in the soil of his prime? What I'm seeing with Iraq is a setting of Democracy that is as invasive upon the viability of its governed as Industrialized Agriculture was for its invested consumers.

Currently, there is a market for exploitation. Potentially we could begin seeing a greater use of warfare as a means of conflict resolution, and it will be attractive (like the oceans for the moon) for those directly and, most crucially, those who are indirectly involved ('sideliners' looking at this kind of environment as a game of double dutch).

This comes to mind in parallel with the model of industrialized agriculture promoting the use of pesticides and chemicals as just tools of employment for wielding crops for food for a growing population.

More, 'hokey' as it may seem, biodynamic viticulture consistently chimes in with one (thus far) redeeming quality for me. It describes a pattern in theory and practice of elements that naturally coincide like oxygen in fire. The terrestrial tessellation remains largely unnoticed as such and therefore is not widely cited as useful information. No matter, these elements will continue to exist (even unnoticed) just as gravity continues to permeate our third-dimension. (Do you think of the tree crashing in the forest, too?--"does it make a noise if no one is there to hear it?")

It is this quality to which I credit my stubborn insistence to let this methodology guide my studies in the realm of international/national security, of the terrorism/counter-terrorism relationship embedded therein, and in the Iraq War.

I realize the harm of superimposing. As of now however, this project is but a learning exercise. My largest concern...What can I infer when the hokey becomes reasonable? Don't hold it against me. After all, we all experiment in college.