Food for thought by farmer-philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka

...'Before researchers become researchers they should become philosophers. They should consider what the human goal is what it is that humanity should create. Doctors should first determine at the fundamental level what it is that human beings depend for life. Modern scientific agriculture has no such vision (developing a method close to nature). Research wanders about aimlessly, each researcher seeing just one part of the infinite array of natural factors which affect harvest yields.'...

...'Meat and other imported foods are luxuries because they require more energy and resources than the traditional vegetables and grains produces locally. It follows that people who limit themselves to a simple local diet need to do less work and use less land than those with an appetite for luxury.
If we do have a food crisis it will not be caused by the insufficiency of natures productive power, but by the extravagance of human desire.'...
...Extravagance of desire is the fundamental cause which has led the world into its present predicament. Fast rather than slow, more rather than less-this flashy "development" is linked directly to society's impending collapse. It has only served to separate man from nature. Humanity must stop indulging the desire more material possessions and personal gain and move instead toward spiritual awareness. Agriculture must change from large mechanical  operations to small farms attaches only to life itself. Material life and diet should be given a simple place. If this is done, world becomes pleasant, and spiritual breathing space becomes plentiful.'...


...'The goal is to have only a few people in farming. The agricultural authorities say that fewer people owing large, modern machinery can get greater yields from the same acreage. This is considered agricultural progress. After the War, between 70% and 80% of the people in Japan were farmers. This quickly changed to 50%, then 30%, 20% and now the figure stands at around 14%. It is the intention of the Ministry of Agriculture to achieve the same level as in Europe and America, keeping less than 10% of the people as farmers and discouraging the rest. In my opinion if 100% of the people were farmers it would be ideal, There is just a quarter-acre of the arable land for each person in Japan. If each single person were given one quarter-acre , that is 1 1/4 acres to a family of five, that would be more than enough land to support the family for the whole year. If natural farming were practised, a farmer would also have plenty of time for leisure and social activities within the village community. I think this is the most direct path toward this country a happy, pleasant land.
The more the farmer increases the scale of his operation, the more his body and spirit re disappeared and further he falls away from a spiritually satisfying life. A life of small-scale farming may appear to be primitive, but in living such a life, it becomes possible to contemplate the Great way. I believe that if one fathoms deeply one's own neighbourhood and the everyday world in which he lives, the greatest of worlds will be revealed. '...



...'I do not like particularly the word "work". Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I think this is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Other animals make their livings by living, but people work like crazy, thinking that they have to in order to stay alive. The bigger the job, the greater the challenge, the more wonderful they think it is. It would be good to give up that way of thinking and live an easy, comfortable life with plenty of free time. I think that the way animals live in the tropics, stepping outside in the morning and evening to see if there is something to eat, and taking a long nap in the afternoon, must be a wonderful life. For humans, a life of such simplicity would be possible if one worked to produce directly his daily necessities. In such a life, work is not work as people generally think of it, but simply doing what needs to be done.'...


...'Lao Tzu spoke of non-active nature, and I think that if he were a farmer he would certainly practice natural farming. I believe that Gandhi's way, a methodless method, acting with a non-winning, non opposing state of mind, is akin to natural farming. When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them the essence of natural farming will be realised. The ultimate goal of farming in not growing crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.'...

...'The reason for all the confusion is that there are two paths of human knowledge-discriminating and non-discriminating. People generally believe that unmistakable recognition of the world is possible through discrimination alone. Therefore the word "nature" as it is generally spoken, denotes nature as it is perceived by the discriminating intellect. I deny the empty image of nature as created by the human intellect, and clearly distinguish it from nature itself as experience by non-discriminating understanding. If we eradicate the false conception of nature, I believe the root of the world's disorder will disappear. Nature as grasped by scientific knowledge is a nature which has been destroyed; it is a ghost possessing a skeleton, but not soul. Nature as grasped by philosophical knowledge is a theory create out of human speculation, a ghost with a soul but no structure.  There is no way in which non-discriminating knowledge can be realised except by direct intuition, bu t people try to fit it into a familiar framework by calling it "instinct". It is actually knowledge from an unnamable source. Abandon the discriminating mind and transcend the world of relativity if you want to know the true appearance of nature. From the beginning there is no east of west, no four seasons, and no ying yang.'...
...'Natural diet is a way of eating in which foods gathered in the wild or crops grown through natural farming, and fish caught by natural methods, are acquired without intentional action through the non-discriminating mind. When you no longer want to eat something tasty, you can taste the real flavour of whatever you are eating. It is easy to lay out simple foods of a natural diet on the dining table, but those who can truly enjoy such a feast are few. Food is not delicious unless a person thinks it is. Although most people think tat beef and chicken are delectable, to a person who for physical or spiritual reasons has decided that he dislikes them, they are repulsive. Wheat noodles are delicious, but a cup of instant noodles from a vending machine tastes extremely bad. But, by advertising remove the idea that they taste bad, and to many people even these unsavoury noodles somehow come to taste good.There are stories that, deceived by a fox, people have eaten horse manure. It is nothing to laugh about. People nowadays eat with their minds, not with their bodies. Many people do not care if there is monosodium glutamate in their food, but they taste only with the tip of the tongue, so they are easily fooled. at first people ate simply because they were alive and because food was tasty. Modern people have come to think that if they do not prepare food with elaborate seasonings, the meal will be tasteless. If you do not try to make food delicious, you will find that nature has made it so. Thus, by following a humble diet, gathering the foods of various seasons from close at hand, and savouring their wholesome and nourishing  flavour, the local villagers accept what nature provides. The villagers know the delicious flavour of the food, but they cannot taste the mysterious flavour of nature. No, it is rather that they taste it, but cannot express it with words, A natural diet lies right at one's feet.'...

...'The best part of living a retired life on the mountain, isolated from news of the outside world, is that I have a different sense of time. I hope as the days go by, that  I will be able to experience the day as a year. Then like the tribal people in Somalia, I will not know how old I am.
I hope that when I pass away my mind and body will still be in good condition. When I go to the fields or the orchard I say to myself make no promises, forget about yesterday, do not think about tomorrow, put sincere effort into each day's work and leave not footprints here on earth. Nature can never be understood or improved upon human effort. In the end, to become one with nature, to live with God, one cannot help others or even receive help from them. We can only walk our paths alone.'...

                 (Masanobu Fukuoka, The one-straw revolution: An introduction to natural farming, 1975)