Principles of Psychology

William James

Far below I could see that there was great expanse of land under cultivation. We were just beginning to pass over the westward parts of America so this land was what was formerly the central plains. Remembering how terribly America had abused her soil from the early days of cotton and tobacco down to the times of chemical fertilizers and hard pesticides, I asked the means employed to restore its fertility.

"Many natural forces at man's disposal wait only for him to manage them properly, David," spoke Dr. Karoll. "One of mankind's great benefactors is the spiritual being that manifests itself in the physical world through the lowly earthworm. When we decided to cooperate with this willing servant of mankind, we were able to improve the quality of worn out soil until it became superior to its condition when first plowed."

"How did you accomplish this?"

"It was rather a matter of providing suitable conditions to let the earthworms accomplish it. We used sea weed to replenish the lost elements and trace minerals and created ideal conditions for earthworms with a ten inch covering of straw mulch. This retained the moisture and provided them the needed environment to multiply. Now organic materials are properly returned to the soil. Crops are planted through the mulch and plowing is done only at intervals of several years when the soil may require some special attention to maintain the proper chemical balance or improve conditions. Annual churning up of fields is a thing of the past."

"What about weeds and insects? Why, farming had reached a point in America that one would not even have a crop without using both poisons to kill insects and chemical fertilizers to make plants grow," I wondered.

"Your system for farming was as shortsighted as your banking system. You cannot continue to get more than you give. Nature demands to be cooperated with; no life forms that have existed for ages may be crushed without a reaction. Each specie of insect has its place in preserving the natural balance. The common house fly should never have been regarded as a pest but as a friend and conscientious servant. After all, the fly is Nature's means for converting decaying matter into life which otherwise would cause an excess of harmful microscopic organisms to contaminate the air. The fly is one of Nature's most effective scavengers and should be deeply appreciated. It is only evidence of man's improper treatment of waste when they are over abundant. Instead of correcting conditions, man viciously attacked such helpful creatures and seriously disturbed the insect balance."

"But there were lots of problems with insects before the widespread use of poisons began. The devastation of crops by the insects is what created the demand for poison sprays in the first place," I countered.

"Of course, David. However, it does not require any great reasoning power to understand this. Suppose you visualize the diversity of Nature and contemplate how She arranges for the balance to be maintained between one life form and another. Then visualize a great acreage of a particular crop that provides the ideal food for a specific type of insect but provides no cover or conditions for the reproduction of its natural enemies. The answer to your question is obvious. How very elementary the thinking is which enables man to organize the production of food in harmony with Nature!"

"Then you are saying that we should have given more thought to living in harmony with the natural order of our environment instead of opposing with force the plant and animal and insect life that interfered with our food supply?" I responded.

"It was pride and ignorance and rebellion against natural order which first inspired the use of poison to control any life form. In the final analysis, the reaction to the abuse naturally could be expected to result in man's own body becoming contaminated with these poisons. They took their effect upon his sensitivity to delicate spiritual forces, leaving him even more benumbed and apathetic toward his misuse of the discoveries of science."

"Does this mean that a great variety of plants are now cultivated side by side on the same field?" I asked.

"Yes, it does. It also means that some of the plants are not grown for human food but to serve the needs of the creatures whose cooperation is required, or to repel certain other creatures which would normally feed upon neighboring plants. The science of agriculture is now one of cooperation with the various life forms in our environment. Depleted crop lands in all parts of the globe are being restored with the help of earthworms, the use of organic matter from the sea, mulching to hold the moisture and control the growth of undesirable plants and crop rotation. Our streams run clear as crystal and contain an abundance of fish for we have no run off water that carries top soil or chemicals."

"I know that all of these principles were understood in my own times," I sighed.

"They have been known since ancient times, David. Only because of his ignorance was man destroying the environment which he would himself inherit by rebirth. With a belief in only one life on earth, each man was inclined to think lightly of the injury he was doing himself by his abuse of Nature."

"Well," I said, "I can see that we have been hard on our best friends. I'm glad that the earthworms and flies don't hold grudges. I suppose the humble snail is one of our good friends, also."

"A very good friend. His place in maintaining the balance is partly to provide food for various predatory creatures that need him in their diet. Without the enforced discipline of Nature, you can easily see that no species could continue to exist. These lower life forms depend upon their natural enemies for their own existence. The classic example in America was the disappearance of the beautiful mountain goats after the bounty hunters killed off the mountain lions. Very shortly, the goats over populated their habitat and starved themselves into extinction. Almost overnight, an abundant and lovely form of wild life was destroyed because its only enemy was killed off."

"Dr. Karoll, it looks like we had so many destructive plans to engage our educated minds that Nature had no way to give us the lessons we needed except by giving up and dying," I said in sad recollection of the dying birds and fishes, the blights, the dead soil, and the disappearing wild bees."

"Things are never what they seem. The reality is not visible to the one sided view of material minded man, David," said Dr. Karoll gently. "The crucifixion of Mother Nature by man to whom She gave of Herself to sustain is a parallel to the crucifixion of the Inner Man by the ego. Only through exercising his opportunity to abuse Nature does man learn that, as a race, he must meet what he sows in relation to his environment. The great opportunity was to work with Nature to create a beautiful environment. The opportunity to work with living forms, guiding them into useful and exquisite expressions of life by the science of horticulture, was a gift to man by his Maker. The choice between right-use-ness, life and beauty or unright-use-ness, death and ugliness, had to be presented to man, both individually and collectively, or else he could not learn to know himself through meeting the consequences of sin, misuse of his powers."

"With the delayed reaction between exploiting Nature and suffering the consequences, mankind could not learn better. Unless there was a scientifically established understanding of rebirth, man could become extinct," I commented. "The power to destroy his environment in disregard for posterity and the knowledge of reincarnation stand as opposing forces. The tools to establish the science of reincarnation and disseminate knowledge of it throughout the earth were developed simultaneously with the means to destroy all life."

"Not quite, David. You lived in the time of testing of the race. First came the capacity to destroy or bless the entire race by scientific discoveries and then, after the choice was clear, came the knowledge of rebirth to human society."

"The public was aware of the power to destroy first, I'm sure," I answered. "The test you refer to reminds me of a story told me by a Sunday school teacher. It was about two brothers, the first rich through application of his talents to serve others, the second poor and resentful. To help his poorer brother in a constructive way, the rich one asked him to be his contractor to build a home. He gave him the plans for the construction of a beautiful house on a fine building lot. He asked his brother to build it of the best materials and insist on the highest quality of workmanship, and allowed him to think the house was for the rich brother's family. He trusted his brother to spend money carefully and to supervise the work properly. When the work was completed, the second brother brought the keys to the first. In the process of building the house he had taken every advantage of the situation to prosper himself. He bought shoddy material and showed on the records the price of the best. He falsified the record of hours and wages so as to draw more money than was required to pay the labor. The finished home was excessively expensive and of poor quality throughout. When the rich brother received the keys, he took them with a smile. Telling his brother that he trusted he had done a good job and that he was not even going to look over the house, he handed them back to him. The house that the second brother had been furnished all he needed to build was actually a gift to himself from the start."

"Your story draws parallels, David," spoke Dr. Karoll, "but by the grace of God there is a heartening difference to be taken into account. Man is given another chance to do better after each failure. This is the very purpose of his earth experience. Down through the centuries mankind has revered those who serve it well and forgotten those who hinder. This is true of ourselves with regard to individual incarnations. Only good lives on."

"A heartening difference," I agreed.