Learning from a Mentor

Hugh J. Courtney examining “horn manure” preparation samples in 2015

Energy only flows from high concentration to low concentration. This principle is expressed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which says that order tends to decrease over time. A more accessible way to understand this principle is that useful energy decreases as it is spent. Over time, there isn’t enough of a differential for energy to flow. But this is only given a closed system. Yes, the universe as a whole tends towards disorder but that same tendency allows for pockets of what appears to be negative entropy, where order seems to increase. Cases like this include the Earth in relation to the Sun. The Sun is always losing energy, but because the Earth always has less energy than the Sun. Because of this, the Earth continues to receive a new influx of energy. This is the possibility of evolution and the possibility of soil development. If there weren’t new energy flowing into the garden every year, there would be no possibility of soil development.

The same is true of knowledge. A mentor can only instruct you in what he knows. And you can only learn if you admit that you do not yet know. If we pretend to know that which we do not know, we block ourselves off from development and from the possibility of acquiring true knowledge. In an era opposed to hierarchies, we’ve lost sight of the hierarchy of experience. Respect for elders doesn’t come from any innate authority, but from years of experience. A good grape year doesn’t immediately make a great wine. Good grapes only become good wine after many years of aging and developing. The student comes to the teacher to learn what is not known, not because the teacher is necessarily morally or spiritually superior but because the teacher possesses knowledge someone else does not possess.

My personal mentor was Hugh J. Courtney, founder of the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics. Shortly before he crossed the threshold, he told me that the next generation would have to take up the work of carrying on biodynamics. That is my work today. I do not just instruct people. I guide clients to realizing their goals and to saving them more time, energy, and money than the mentorship costs. It is the duty of everyone with spiritual knowledge to shine like a star, not hide it under a bushel. It is, of course, possible to go to the “school of hard knocks” and spend years on false-starts and blind alleys, or you can follow the footsteps of someone else who’s already tripped over a lot of the problems along the way. It’s not that the person you follow is superior, they’ve just fallen enough times to warn you about what to avoid. If you want to save yourself endless headaches, enlist the help of someone who has been foolish longer than you in your field of interest.

Asking "Why?"

It’s a lot to ask to know why something happens. Most of us have to be content with the results of what happens without knowing the inner workings. Whether we’re too busy or it’s just beyond our grasp, most of us deal with concrete results. Asking “why” my plant is failing or “why” winter benefits the soil are questions often above our pay grade. This is why we reach to people who have some degree of knowledge about the whys of the world. If someone knows the source of a phenomenon, it is much easier to direct that phenomenon towards our own goals. In biodynamics, we can all use the preparations, but if we do not know the conceptual framework from which they emerged, we are limited to the external results rather than their living inner logic. If you knew that you could earn $500 more in produce every month, a $100/mo. fee for consulting already pays for itself. You don’t necessarily have to comprehend the secrets of the book of nature, but if you learn from someone who can read the script of Nature, you will produce better yields sooner whether or not you fathom the unmoved mover, the why of the world.