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©2008 Organic Connections Magazine
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Web-only Stories The Organic Gardener Brings It on Home to You: Many times more nutrition and many times the taste, for far less than you pay at the grocery store. Such motivations are bringing hundreds of visitors per day to Lee O’Hara’s Organic Home Gardener website and causing thousands of his DVDs to be snapped up . . . 135 Miles of Death Valley: Ultramarathon runner John Radich has just completed his ninth running of the treacherous Badwater Ultramarathon. Remineralize the Earth: Nonprofit organization Remineralize the Earth, in partnership with Ocean Arks International, is engaged in a fascinating project to reforest previously devastated, overgrazed grasslands in Costa Rica. |
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In Our Current Issue Dr. David Pascal: A gold medalist in the 1983 World Games, Dr. Pascal specializes in working with\ world-class athletes. In Beijing, his athletes won 20 medals (including 10 gold). He talks about his views on nutrition. Page 4 Conservation International: Through its Protect an Acre program, CI has saved 18,000 acres of tropical forest. Add to this the 143 million acres it has already preserved and you’re seeing seriously effective environmental action. Page 7 Bob Cannard: This natural farmer supplies fruits and vegetables to famed chef Alice Waters and works with nature to grow nutrient-rich produce that has “true taste.” Page 10 |
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Publisher's Corner |
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The ware of intelligence versus arrogance
The dictionary defines arrogant as “having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities.” It comes from the Latin root meaning “claiming for oneself.”
Why is this of interest? Because it helps to explain some of what we see around us. Rather than seeking to live with one another in a civil civilization, some opt for power and wealth (claiming for themselves) no matter the cost to others.
Arrogance brought us atom bombs; drugs with long lists of “side” effects; pollution; manufactured goods that can’t easily be disposed of; genetically modified crops; toxic fertilizers and pesticides; huge quantities of industrially farmed, nutritionally lacking “food”; gasguzzling cars; the current economic crisis; and, sadly, the list goes on.
But, like every coin, this one has two sides. The flip side is intelligence. Our dictionary says it’s “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.” It also comes from a Latin root, but this one means “understand.”
Like it or not, we’re in a battle for the future of our race. The planet will continue—the only question is, will it continue to support mankind?
Unfortunately, it’s not only the various crises we have to deal with (war, economy, environment, energy, health…), it’s also the fact that in each of these situations there is a battle between intelligence (trying to improve conditions) on one side and arrogance (seeking to keep things just as they are for personal gain) on the other. If you ever thought that some of these disasters might not be all that natural, then you get the idea. Turns out we’re not all on the same team.
The good news that doesn’t make the “news” is that there are a lot of people who realize that life on this planet is an interdependence. There are some good examples in this issue. We have a doctor who specializes in using natural nutrition to support world-class athletes, an environmental organization that is saving tropical forests from being slashed and burned, and a farmer who works by understanding nature to produce high-nutrient fruits and vegetables with “true taste.”
The interesting thing is that arrogance is built on lies. It seeks to use wealth and force to sustain its power. Intelligence seeks to live with the truth. Telling the arrogant from the intelligent is quite simple.
Look at the results. If there’s pain, suffering and death involved, it’s arrogance. If there’s life, health and happiness, it’s intelligence.
publisher
