Soul, Soil, and Society

I'm back indoors after shoveling out the Christmas gift left by the snowplough a few minutes ago. As Canadians we anticipate a period of time when snow covers up all ills in our yards and gardens, which is something of a relief until April when the first signs of Spring push up from the soil.

It's a challenge for us Northern Hemisphere types to get enthusiastic about World Soil Day (yesterday) when none is in sigh, yet the health of soil is essential for a livable planet and we humus-beings are making it difficult for what we often mistakenly describe as dirt to be the rich, multi-organism-ed culture which sustains life. Erosion is a major problem because of industrial farming around the world. In many countries the sustained use of chemical fertilizers has rendered soil a lifeless medium. We have made the lives of those who tend the soil almost untenable in our country. 

To acknowledge this day Satish Kumar, cone a Jain monk and now an ecological mystic wrote an opinion piece for Britain's Guardian. He invites us to consider the interconnection of soul, soil, and society as an essential trinity for the well-being of society.

While I am firmly a Trinitarian from a Christian perspective, I appreciate this trinity as well. Certainly those of us who are part of the Judeo-Christian tradition recognize that we are Groundlings,  that we are metaphorically descendents of Adam, the biblical first person, formed from the soil in the book of Genesis. 

We can "think soil, not dirt" today and remind ourselves that this soil is both holy and wholly necessary.