Poetry has been helpful on my journey of personal and professional discovery. One poem I’ve come to admire and reflect upon is Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem “Live the Question Now.” I especially enjoy this advice: “… have patience with everything in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for answers … live the questions now.”
In my case, I am trying to live two particular questions. The first is my secular question, which focuses on how I must live my life in the material world. The question has come to inform my decision to focus exclusively on the farming and agriculture sector in my professional work and the question is this: Am I being a good ancestor?
As I “live” this question, I have come to understand that one meaningful way I am to assist farmers and agri-businesses in becoming even better stewards of the land is by continuing to help them understand how new and emerging technologies can aid them in using less water and fewer chemical inputs, while simultaneously increasing yield, productivity and profits. This “question” also informs my desire to delve deeper into the potential of regenerative agriculture and biodynamic farming.
The second–and more important–question–is what I term my spiritual question. This question is informed by my Christian faith and is as follows: “How do I love God with my whole heart, my whole soul, and my whole body and mind?”
By “living” into this question I have discerned I am to take seriously the notion that we humans have “dominion” over all living things on earth. The truth, though, is this: We are failing! The fish of the sea are dwindling, the birds of the air are disappearing, and the creatures that crawl on the earth are being systematically poisoned and eradicated.
We can–and must–do better! Soil and groundwater health are of paramount concern.
What precisely this means for me moving forward, I don’t exactly know but I intend to continue to live into these two questions.
I encourage you to find and live into your unique questions.
Jack Uldrich is a leading agricultural futurist, best-selling author and keynote speaker. His latest book is “A Smarter Farm: How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Agriculture.” He can be reached at www.jackuldrich.com. Organizations wishing to have Jack speak at their conference or event are encouraged to contact Rich Tiller at the Agriculture Speakers Network.
