“Fully Human”–something to ponder

There is nothing like a huge life change to make you evaluate your life and decide what you think is important. For over a year now our lives have been absorbed with the process of moving and setting up a farm. But with the coming fall and the almost visible slowing of the seasons I am finding time to actually read and contemplate and enjoy life.

I am finishing up reading the first 2 issues of Taproot magazine. Shannon Hayes said in her particularly insightful article “Cultivating the Rich Soil of OUr Lives, “
We live in bizarre times, victims of a post-industrial era that, for the sake of efficiency, has segmented our culture into factions–some produce food, some produce the education, some produce goods and services. This segmentation fails to acknowledge our need to be human, to engage in daily work that feeds our minds and our bodies and reestablishes our oneness with the earth. Perhaps more carrots can be produced, more books can be written, more art can be created, more kids can be schooled, more numbers can be crunched and more albums can be produced if one person plants carrots and someone else writes the books, and someone else paints pictures, and someone else teaches our kids, and someone else crunches the numbers and someone else plants the music and someone else cooks the carrots. But none of us is experiencing what it means to be fully human, where our unique minds and bodies work in harmony with our spirits and nature to create and provide for our wellbeing.

That article hit home to me, I have always known my tastes and interests were varied and eclectic. But I have always thought maybe I just needed more focus. Maybe I should just focus on one thing, now I can embrace it. So just because I keep a home, cook and grow food, raise and homeschool my children, sew, knit, write, photograph and so much more I am not doing too much, I am just fully experiencing my particular human existence. Thanks to Taproots for a great magazine!