The agricultural individuality
Posted: 17 Nov 2024, 20:18
The agricultural individuality
On familiar terms with you, your environment, your farm
The concept of individuality is missing in the general understanding of agronomy. This is not so in biodynamic agriculture: Rudolf Steiner introduced this idea, so broadening the perspective in a surprising way. Understanding this concept continues to be a challenge – and putting it into practice even more so. Ueli Hurter, co-leader of the Section for Agriculture, describes a way forward.
In 1924, when farmers in need of help asked Rudolf Steiner for an agriculture course, they had no idea of the concept of the “agriculture individuality”. It was something totally new! The concept is broadly defined – as is the understanding of biodynamic agriculture: it creates connections between natural and spiritual sciences and tries to see everything in context.
Individuality as a double gesture both inwards and outwards
When considering human beings, individuality means becoming oneself: we can make our own decisions and are responsible for the consequences of our actions. The development of the child and young person show that individualisation takes place in stages. It is a way that leads us from being one with the surroundings towards self-determination. Our individuality develops through the primal experience of lone- liness, but also through the experience of love – we take individualisation into our own hands.
The same applies in society: from ancient times up to the Renaissance, we developed via many stages from a group consciousness to an individual consciousness. This process of becoming our own person also means that we be- come more generalised. We increasingly become representatives of humanity, for example of a village, a region, even of a whole generation. It is a double gesture: we become more ourselves, but at the same time represent the whole.
Nelson Mandela is an example of this. A person of colour, he fought the apartheid regime and was imprisoned for 27 years. He did not allow this to break him, but worked on developing his individual- ity every day. As a result, people knew about him, even during his captivity! He was released and elected as president – as the representative of the people. In his inauguration speech, he cited the American freedom activist Marianne Williamson: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” At this moment, when as president he outwardly became a representative, he was inwardly at his full power and his individuality was expressed or, in other words, his “inner sun” shone.
What has the concept of individuality to do with farming?
How can the concept of individuality be applied to agriculture? To answer this question, we must go back to the year 1924, when Rudolf Steiner held the eight lectures making up the Agriculture Course at Whitsun in Koberwitz (Kobierzyce). A picture was created in the first lecture of a small circle surrounded by a large one – Saturn‘s orbit with its 30-year period: a dramatic opening, looking at the big picture! In this way Rudolf Steiner set the course for a new way of looking at agronomy, one that included the whole – the earth, human beings, the cosmos! In the second lecture he introduced the concept of the “agricultural individuality” – so it was there from the start. “A farm is true to its essential nature, in the best sense of the word, if it is conceived as a kind of individual entity in itself—a self-contained individuality.”* This means that the farm must itself create what it needs for production – the manure, the means of production i.e. soil, plants and animals – as far as possible. This is not just an outline of a small farming idea, but the foundation of a new form of agriculture. Being self-contained is the first aspect of the agricultural individuality. The second relates to the soil. Steiner compared the soil to the human diaphragm, so turning everything upside down: “In the individuality with which we are here concerned, the head is beneath the surface of the Earth, while we, with all the animals, are living in the creature‘s belly!” How puzzling!
The third aspect is the “ego tendency” that the cow carries within herself as the world champion of digestion. What is meant by this? Unlike the human being, the cow has not developed an ego-consciousness, but remains in a “dreaming consciousness” while she digests her feed and excretes it again. So the potential of the “ego tendency” is not exhausted but is made available to the whole farm in the form of manure, giving this an “ego potential”, which develops into the farm individuality over the years. The three aspects of the agricultural individuality interact with each other: the whole which is standing on its head, and whose parts support each other down through the years. What is the meaning of this?
Becoming human – looking at individuality as a whole
In order to understand this image of the agricultural individuality standing on its head, it is helpful to shed light on the different levels of the concept of individuality.
Physical level – embracing: become the person you are. What you now are is not what you actually are. Through studying the Agriculture Course, Rudolf Steiner invites us to start on a path of self-discovery.
Living level – becoming conscious: if we concentrate on our own “I”, then our personality appears as a point. Everything that we have ever gone through or experienced is now collected in this point. It is a gesture of huge proportions! This gathering place now becomes the eye of the needle through which to pass into a new space beyond materiality, into a counterspace, an inner expanse, where the world of the elements, the atmosphere, takes place. We experience our peripheral ego. To what does this shift in the agricultural individuality correspond? The inversion of up and down, the agricultural individuality on its head! We tend to think that the plant has its roots in the ground in order to absorb nutrients, and has its leaves in the air in order to perceive. However, we could look at it the other way around: it perceives with its roots and in the air and atmosphere it absorbs nutrients and digests them. Then everything which is light and air is actually absorbed metabolically. We see the plant growing from the bottom upwards, but in fact it also grows from the top downwards. The formation of substance takes place in the green leaves. Naturally the mineral substances come upwards from below in the flow of soluble salts. But they are the result of a process of perception and not due to the plant‘s desire to feed itself.
Feeling level – connecting: we now live in a relationship of the centre to the pe- riphery. How can we join the one to the other? From the point to the periphery. I am in the great whole. And the great whole is in me. I am ex-centric. This is the experience of reality: becoming ex-centric and at the same time meet- ing the counterpart, the other. I am, because you are. Everything becomes its opposite: the minerals and the stars, the plants and the animals, a branch moved by a breath of wind. I enter the world that exists because it is a conversation between different beings. In terms of the farm, this means that it needs to be self-contained so that this conversation can take place. The self-containment creates an inner warmth, inner light, an inner conversation. The familiar force of self-organisation emerges. After three years a developmental step takes place, after seven years the next one, and suddenly this agricultural individuality starts to maintain itself on its own. If you are able to develop a farm over a long period, this individuality starts to become a true partner. Peace, stability and internal autonomy arise.
Spiritual level – developing: this conversation is also concerned with before and after, in other words, what was in our lives up until now and what will come afterwards. The conversation contains everything. It is another intertwining of the individual and the general. In this sense, every person is in the process of development along their path but is also united with all other people who are also in a process of development.
Becoming earth – understanding the other
In visualising the great timeless whole – the creation, if we want to call it that – we need to develop ideas and powers that are still totally unknown at present. We need to make sure that the life of us human beings on earth can continue, also in the physical sense. We visualise that we are one or “kin” with everything, that minerals, plants and animals are our siblings. The earth is there for all of us. We have experienced centuries when people have taken more than they have given. On the one hand this is right, because it enabled us to develop and gain freedom, but on the other hand it gave rise to an imbalance that we now need to redress.
Becoming sun – dedicating ourselves to the healthy development of the earth
How can this relationship be turned around? It requires a major development dimension: a reversal of the direction of development. We can find an analogy in the figure of Christ. Christ as a spiritual being, a sun being, left his home, became human, died, overcame death and connected himself to everything on the earth. This gave rise to a new consciousness on the earth: the awareness of transformation, healing, forgiveness; an awareness of co-operation instead of antagonism. And in this way the earth starts to germinate, like a seed. The earth contains new germinating forces. Plants, animals and the earth carry early germinating forces in order to shine anew. This is the deed of the sun being, the Christ being, which should not be confused with the naming of Christ as it is done in an ecclesiastical religious context. Anthroposophy respects all religious beliefs.
This inner experience of the “sun‘s warmth” can be very personal and at the same time very unifying – here we again see the double nature of the individual. Our common human responsibility is now to include the earth in our human destinies. The earth is the “substance of our destiny”, individually and jointly. How can I give expression to this? When we turn our attention to a piece of the earth, take it into our care so that it can develop towards individualisation as an expression of the whole earth, then this results in agricultural individuality. So we can say that every farm can be a representative of the whole earth in the sense that it contains a future germ of the earth. This is where new forces of germination are at work. Nature here is not merely regenerated but generated. This is where we can work creatively out of the future, on and with the earth.
On familiar terms with you, your environment, your farm
The concept of individuality is missing in the general understanding of agronomy. This is not so in biodynamic agriculture: Rudolf Steiner introduced this idea, so broadening the perspective in a surprising way. Understanding this concept continues to be a challenge – and putting it into practice even more so. Ueli Hurter, co-leader of the Section for Agriculture, describes a way forward.
In 1924, when farmers in need of help asked Rudolf Steiner for an agriculture course, they had no idea of the concept of the “agriculture individuality”. It was something totally new! The concept is broadly defined – as is the understanding of biodynamic agriculture: it creates connections between natural and spiritual sciences and tries to see everything in context.
Individuality as a double gesture both inwards and outwards
When considering human beings, individuality means becoming oneself: we can make our own decisions and are responsible for the consequences of our actions. The development of the child and young person show that individualisation takes place in stages. It is a way that leads us from being one with the surroundings towards self-determination. Our individuality develops through the primal experience of lone- liness, but also through the experience of love – we take individualisation into our own hands.
The same applies in society: from ancient times up to the Renaissance, we developed via many stages from a group consciousness to an individual consciousness. This process of becoming our own person also means that we be- come more generalised. We increasingly become representatives of humanity, for example of a village, a region, even of a whole generation. It is a double gesture: we become more ourselves, but at the same time represent the whole.
Nelson Mandela is an example of this. A person of colour, he fought the apartheid regime and was imprisoned for 27 years. He did not allow this to break him, but worked on developing his individual- ity every day. As a result, people knew about him, even during his captivity! He was released and elected as president – as the representative of the people. In his inauguration speech, he cited the American freedom activist Marianne Williamson: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” At this moment, when as president he outwardly became a representative, he was inwardly at his full power and his individuality was expressed or, in other words, his “inner sun” shone.
What has the concept of individuality to do with farming?
How can the concept of individuality be applied to agriculture? To answer this question, we must go back to the year 1924, when Rudolf Steiner held the eight lectures making up the Agriculture Course at Whitsun in Koberwitz (Kobierzyce). A picture was created in the first lecture of a small circle surrounded by a large one – Saturn‘s orbit with its 30-year period: a dramatic opening, looking at the big picture! In this way Rudolf Steiner set the course for a new way of looking at agronomy, one that included the whole – the earth, human beings, the cosmos! In the second lecture he introduced the concept of the “agricultural individuality” – so it was there from the start. “A farm is true to its essential nature, in the best sense of the word, if it is conceived as a kind of individual entity in itself—a self-contained individuality.”* This means that the farm must itself create what it needs for production – the manure, the means of production i.e. soil, plants and animals – as far as possible. This is not just an outline of a small farming idea, but the foundation of a new form of agriculture. Being self-contained is the first aspect of the agricultural individuality. The second relates to the soil. Steiner compared the soil to the human diaphragm, so turning everything upside down: “In the individuality with which we are here concerned, the head is beneath the surface of the Earth, while we, with all the animals, are living in the creature‘s belly!” How puzzling!
The third aspect is the “ego tendency” that the cow carries within herself as the world champion of digestion. What is meant by this? Unlike the human being, the cow has not developed an ego-consciousness, but remains in a “dreaming consciousness” while she digests her feed and excretes it again. So the potential of the “ego tendency” is not exhausted but is made available to the whole farm in the form of manure, giving this an “ego potential”, which develops into the farm individuality over the years. The three aspects of the agricultural individuality interact with each other: the whole which is standing on its head, and whose parts support each other down through the years. What is the meaning of this?
Becoming human – looking at individuality as a whole
In order to understand this image of the agricultural individuality standing on its head, it is helpful to shed light on the different levels of the concept of individuality.
Physical level – embracing: become the person you are. What you now are is not what you actually are. Through studying the Agriculture Course, Rudolf Steiner invites us to start on a path of self-discovery.
Living level – becoming conscious: if we concentrate on our own “I”, then our personality appears as a point. Everything that we have ever gone through or experienced is now collected in this point. It is a gesture of huge proportions! This gathering place now becomes the eye of the needle through which to pass into a new space beyond materiality, into a counterspace, an inner expanse, where the world of the elements, the atmosphere, takes place. We experience our peripheral ego. To what does this shift in the agricultural individuality correspond? The inversion of up and down, the agricultural individuality on its head! We tend to think that the plant has its roots in the ground in order to absorb nutrients, and has its leaves in the air in order to perceive. However, we could look at it the other way around: it perceives with its roots and in the air and atmosphere it absorbs nutrients and digests them. Then everything which is light and air is actually absorbed metabolically. We see the plant growing from the bottom upwards, but in fact it also grows from the top downwards. The formation of substance takes place in the green leaves. Naturally the mineral substances come upwards from below in the flow of soluble salts. But they are the result of a process of perception and not due to the plant‘s desire to feed itself.
Feeling level – connecting: we now live in a relationship of the centre to the pe- riphery. How can we join the one to the other? From the point to the periphery. I am in the great whole. And the great whole is in me. I am ex-centric. This is the experience of reality: becoming ex-centric and at the same time meet- ing the counterpart, the other. I am, because you are. Everything becomes its opposite: the minerals and the stars, the plants and the animals, a branch moved by a breath of wind. I enter the world that exists because it is a conversation between different beings. In terms of the farm, this means that it needs to be self-contained so that this conversation can take place. The self-containment creates an inner warmth, inner light, an inner conversation. The familiar force of self-organisation emerges. After three years a developmental step takes place, after seven years the next one, and suddenly this agricultural individuality starts to maintain itself on its own. If you are able to develop a farm over a long period, this individuality starts to become a true partner. Peace, stability and internal autonomy arise.
Spiritual level – developing: this conversation is also concerned with before and after, in other words, what was in our lives up until now and what will come afterwards. The conversation contains everything. It is another intertwining of the individual and the general. In this sense, every person is in the process of development along their path but is also united with all other people who are also in a process of development.
Becoming earth – understanding the other
In visualising the great timeless whole – the creation, if we want to call it that – we need to develop ideas and powers that are still totally unknown at present. We need to make sure that the life of us human beings on earth can continue, also in the physical sense. We visualise that we are one or “kin” with everything, that minerals, plants and animals are our siblings. The earth is there for all of us. We have experienced centuries when people have taken more than they have given. On the one hand this is right, because it enabled us to develop and gain freedom, but on the other hand it gave rise to an imbalance that we now need to redress.
Becoming sun – dedicating ourselves to the healthy development of the earth
How can this relationship be turned around? It requires a major development dimension: a reversal of the direction of development. We can find an analogy in the figure of Christ. Christ as a spiritual being, a sun being, left his home, became human, died, overcame death and connected himself to everything on the earth. This gave rise to a new consciousness on the earth: the awareness of transformation, healing, forgiveness; an awareness of co-operation instead of antagonism. And in this way the earth starts to germinate, like a seed. The earth contains new germinating forces. Plants, animals and the earth carry early germinating forces in order to shine anew. This is the deed of the sun being, the Christ being, which should not be confused with the naming of Christ as it is done in an ecclesiastical religious context. Anthroposophy respects all religious beliefs.
This inner experience of the “sun‘s warmth” can be very personal and at the same time very unifying – here we again see the double nature of the individual. Our common human responsibility is now to include the earth in our human destinies. The earth is the “substance of our destiny”, individually and jointly. How can I give expression to this? When we turn our attention to a piece of the earth, take it into our care so that it can develop towards individualisation as an expression of the whole earth, then this results in agricultural individuality. So we can say that every farm can be a representative of the whole earth in the sense that it contains a future germ of the earth. This is where new forces of germination are at work. Nature here is not merely regenerated but generated. This is where we can work creatively out of the future, on and with the earth.