A place in this world: on looking to the future and asking for help

This month, four years ago, we moved into our home here in Florida, New York. We were nervous and had plenty of doubt but we were full of joy and pride and determination. Now four years later we have much to show for our time here: changes to our home and property, new customers and new friends, a great many new skills and lessons learned. 

We have some momentum, we’re feeling much better prepared than before, and I’m very excited to apply adjustments and new techniques, introduce some new species, and incorporate preparations, applications and systems to bring us closer to our goals for 2026. 

And while we are rolling up our sleeves to embrace the year’s agricultural adventures, it is also clear that the world around us is changing. We have these thrilling goals for our burgeoning farm, all of our money and time has been invested in this project, and we are consumed with the pursuit of a truly sustainable, hyper-local agricultural model. Four years ago, with the way the world was going, we felt in our bones that we wanted to do something; to not feel so utterly helpless. But America is now a different place than it was just one -let alone four- years ago. Quiet systemic issues are no longer easy to ignore, and more than ever we know our work with the land is essential.

“How,” I asked my Buddhist friends last week, “do we take enlightened action in this world?” 

Maybe this question seems contradictory to the Buddhist perspective of equanimity, the essential ‘non-judgement-ness’ or ‘acceptance’ that is prescribed to overcome suffering. The logic there being: how can we know, for sure, what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ without seeing far into the future, understanding all the infinite effects of every minute cause? And how could we ever grow if we resist the unexpected, the surprises? What if all the discomforts we experience are just growing pains to a brighter tomorrow?

Now, however, it feels clear and imperative: we have to engage the changes that are coming. We need to stand firm against abuse, corruption and deceit, we need to protect children and the Earth from real, literal threats that are here today.

Practicing Buddhism today, for some, may look like a total cop-out. Phrases like “non-resistance, non-judgment and non-attachment” can sound absolutely infuriating to someone who is in a life-or-death situation. And I agree: at times like these, merely being a good or happy person is not enough if you’re standing on the sidelines.

The Buddhists I practice with are not the ‘retreat to a mountain-top’ kind of Buddhists. There are no priests, gurus or temples. A sub-sect of Mahayana Buddhism that arose in Japan during the middle ages was born of a single man’s realization that the life of the Buddha was waiting to be awakened within every single person. This insight disrupted the institutionalized, politically aligned Shinto-buddhism of the time. A rising movement of practitioners threw off the repression of state-sanctioned spirituality and declared that every person was absolutely entitled to enlightenment, without rebirth, without temples or training and certainly without the endorsement of priests.

Many of these zealots were tortured and executed, but their practice endures and their Buddhism persists in its mission of ‘human revolution’, the deep, total transformation of a person’s life state into unconditional fulfilment, happiness and wisdom.

‘Great!’ you may say, ‘so you’re enlightened! Now what are you actually going to do?’
This, essentially, is what I asked, and I received two answers:

Firstly, if we are truly aligned with this moment, then each and every action is ‘enlightened action’. 

When we are totally free of that voice in our heads, we are moving in-step, in harmony with this singular moment. The actions that we take are informed, intuitive and are exactly what the situation calls for. We don’t need to debate right and wrong, consider past or future repercussions, or check in with our political affiliations: when we see a child in danger we simply save her. Within this context, the Buddhist notion of ‘acceptance’ is an acceptance of the challenge ahead, a purposeful acceptance of the work at hand. 

Secondly, when immediate action is not clear to you: spread the enlightenment. Do your spiritual work, embody this moment without thought or narrative and then share generously, love deeply, call and listen, offer advice from the depth of your heart, do your neighbor’s dishes, abolish fear. Embody that human revolution and embrace everyone and everything around you with it. When you can’t do that: rest and return to the moment. Return to the everpresent Now of Eckhart Tolle’s Power of Now. And then, back at it. Embody the Christ. Bring heaven to this earth. Meditate together. Do the work.

Succinctly: When the moment calls for action: answer that call. When you don’t know what to do: meet that moment, too. Accept it. Connect. Encourage everyone you’re in contact with to do the same.

The fact is, change is coming, and this, I feel,  is the big one. If we meet this change without first becoming a more empathetic, generous creature then we will merely swirl the drain of ecosystem collapse, spinning through the endless cycles of selfishness, fear, greed, anxiety, conflict and grief on a fractured, dying planet.

And on the other end, rebirth. We break away from the old mind-patterns. We champion kindness over competition. We build unbreakable communities and families. We love our neighbors as ourselves.

And so, as we endure the ice and cold of mid-winter, planning out the crop beds and the spring plantings, ordering seeds and sharpening tools it is because we’re making a gamble. We’ve gone all-in betting on this community; on you. The human revolution is happening, right here at Farm on the Fen. We’re committed to you, we’re committed to us, and we’re committed to this land. 

Ask us for help. You need friends, you call us. We’re done with the old ways. We’re dreaming up something way bigger and way brighter. This ice will melt and it will be you and me who build the new world together.