Faculty Present at Harvard on Sustainable Agriculture
MIU faculty recently had the opportunity to present a more profound view of agriculture at a conference on “The Spirit of Sustainable Agriculture” hosted by Harvard Divinity School.
A. Thimmaiah, Travis Cox, and John Fagan led a workshop that presented three natural approaches to agriculture.
Dr. Thimmaiah was also invited to be one of five speakers at the plenary session. He performed an ancient ceremony, called Agnihotra, for healing and agriculture that was attended by approximately 150 of the 200 conference participants.
“They really appreciated how we connect this deep philosophy with modern science, and the way we link spirituality with agriculture,” Dr. Thimmaiah said. “Many of the other speakers quoted us when they gave their presentations.”
Dr. Thimmaiah was invited to speak after having kept in touch with the organizer, who visited MIU two years ago.
During their workshop, Dr. Cox spoke about integral agriculture, Dr. Fagan about Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture, and Dr. Thimmaiah about Biodynamic agriculture.
“Many had not heard about MIU before, and afterward we were mobbed by people eager to talk to us and ask questions,” Dr. Thimmaiah said.
Dr. Cox also gave a session on the concepts of the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead as applied to agriculture.
Conference participants said they felt they were discouraged from talking about the connection between spirituality, food, and agriculture at their universities, and they appreciated what MIU is doing. Many expressed an interest in visiting.
In his plenary presentation, Dr. Thimmaiah said that the future is not genetically modified organisms or conventional farming with its toxic chemicals. Instead, it’s spirituality in agriculture, clean agriculture. It’s agriculture such as Vedic and Biodynamic agriculture that gives deep respect and reverence for — and humility toward — farmers and farming.
He said that while other presenters spoke about agriculture in the context of their faith-based systems, they appreciated the universal laws of nature articulated by the MIU faculty. And they appreciated the language they used.
“They said, ‘We like the language your university is using to link spirituality and agriculture, and the ancient knowledge you people are bringing out,'” Dr. Thimmaiah said. “This is the gift we have: we were talking Maharishi’s language. “
Jim Karpen is a writer by trade, with a special focus on technology. He has a Ph.D. in English and studied the impact of the computerization of language. In addition to writing for iPhone Life magazine, he has also been writing a column about the Internet for the Iowa Source since 1994. He also edits and publishes the MUM Review.