To do this well will require being intentional and prudent.īut wait there is more. And this applies especially, but certainly not exclusively, in the case of the young. I return to this often because it is such an astounding example of interconnection in human life and flourishing… if we but make the effort to recognize and enact this gift.Ĭobbett focuses on the time tested truth that cultivating the earth can also cultivate the soul. William Cobbett refers to something of great practical implication, especially today: the multi-valence of raising some food in the household. Xenophon gives the example that taking exercise by riding a horse on one’s homestead simultaneously improves knowledge of one’s land, keeps one in good physical shape, and keeps one sharp in the military art, not to mention keeps the horse well trained and gives occasion to appreciate natural beauty! Similarly, acting in accord with ‘natural’ patterns that are not explicitly moral likewise has manifold fruits. We might think of the little boy whose habitual truth-telling ends up winning for him positions of responsibility and honor. The most obvious examples are in the moral realm, as for instance how hard-won qualities such as honesty or fidelity bear many fruits we could not have foreseen. There are many things in which as we go through life we discover a generous plan written-in to reality. One of the most remarkable aspects of human life is how what is truly good ends up being good in more ways than we realized. “…while, from a very small piece of ground, a large part of the food of a considerable family may be raised, the very act of raising it will be the best possible foundation of education of the children of the laborer.”
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