The Love Tool

-- by Dirty Dan, Garden Doctor

What's this? And you thought this was a gardening article? Now that eyebrows and attention are
raised, apologies are offered because the love tool is not what you may be thinking.
Of course gardening is a very sexy subject. Consider the bird and bee, pollen and ovum, pistil and
stamen, aphrodisiacal floral fragrances, erotic configurations of fruits and vegetables and,
naturally, pheromone frenzy which elicits behavior aptly defined by the wise owl in Bambi as
"twitterpated." The essence of the gardener's grin is revealed! But we aren't about that here.
Readers with prurient interest should watch for "Deep Root and the Garden Hoers."

Okay, so what is the love tool? Love, a term of noted ambiguity, is most closely associated with the heart.
Should we be gardening with our hearts? Is that any way to get rid of bugs and weeds? Yes. But
strong distractions lie between the ground and our hearts - the drive to survive, the pull of the "twitterpated,"
and the appetite for power. When we can grow through these, we can hone our love tools.

This honing action involves learning to feel, to touch with the heart (love) the reality of other
life forms. Compassion, empathy and sympathy are shades of pathos empowering a heartfelt sense of
connection to other beings: human, plant, microorganism, rock, tree, soil, the Earth and the universe.
We are all made of the same stuff and have at times been each other. We are the same expression in
different forms, the expression of love. Our hearts feel the connection to all and we are compelled
to action (work).

And when you work with love, you bind yourself to your self, and to one another, and to God. -- Gibran

Work is love made visible. -- Gibran

Hands are the physical vehicle for pressing/expressing feelings into action (work.) Hands are
connected to arms which connect to the body near the level of the heart. Oriental medicine shows the
energy meridian (channel) for the heart extending across the chest, down both arms and including major points
in the palms. Sometimes a heart attack is felt as pressure or pain in the arms. Is it conceivable that some
heart attacks relate to the hands not being involved in heartfelt work? Are many working hands in
contradiction to their hearts? Idle hands are said to be the Devil's workshop but perhaps better idle
hands than heartless work.

Joining hands in prayer, clapping, lovers holding hands and grandma's handcrafted items are all
expressions of heart at hand. Every good cook's secret ingredient is the love conveyed from hand to
food. The slap on the face really comes from the heart. (Turning the other cheek gets a double
measure of love!) We are drawn to touch the ill or distressed; babies denied touch fail to thrive.
Handshakes are said to have originated as assurance against concealed weapons but more subtly may
be a way to touch hearts. Hugging, which involves hands, chest and arms is an even fuller expression
of the heart. Is our need to bear arms because we fail to bare hearts?

The fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; and the fruit of service is peace. -- Mother Teresa

In the garden, hands express love in everything from digging and scratching to picking and tickling.
Each seed that falls from hand to earth, each leaf, fruit or vegetable received and each weed removed
from nature's planting are touched by hands' love and gratitude. Even the tools we use become
channels of loving energy from heart to ground.

What might be the effect of five-plus billion people placing hands in unison on the Earth to
communicate love and appreciation? Earth Rub Day! We can do it any day in our gardens and others
will think we are just...well...gardening! The Earth may feel that we are finally humans being.
The word human and humus come from the same word meaning ground. Humus is the non-descript amalgam
of organic matter, humic acids and myriad organisms comprising healthy topsoil upon which humans
depend for food. No humus, no humans? Humble and homage also derive from the same root word for ground.
Our humility lessens as topsoil erodes. The failure to pay homage (reverence) to our origins has
brought us to an ecological crisis. Will the solutions be found only if we regain humility
and reverence? And humus? Are we being challenged to employ our love tools?

Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. -- George Washington Carver

I am totally certain that if we apply our minds to understanding nature, we can solve any problems upon this Earth. -- Joseph Newman

It is not at all true that the scientist goes after truth. It goes after him. -- Kierkegaard

A third aspect of the love tool is revealed in the name given you and me, homo sapiens (sentient earth.)
Sentient means capable of feeling or perception: conscious. We perceive through our senses - sight,
sound, smell, taste and touch (hands again!) Sense messages are transformed by the brain into
perceptions. Conversely, our perceptions affect the quality of our senses.

But to the eyes of man of imagination, Nature is imagination itself. As a man is, so he sees. -- William Blake

The garden challenges us to perceive and is a great place to challenge perceptions. Look, listen,
smell, taste and touch. From these come wisdom (wise, originally meaning to see, know.) Wisdom
should guide our actions -- perceive and then act. The love tool is also our brain and nervous
system employed in the act of attunement. Practice is required. The most important work in the
garden is not physical but involves just being. Human being. But don't throw away your shovels and
forks! Plant yourself in the garden and see.

The farmer's eye is the best fertilizer. -- Pliney the Elder

A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library. -- Henri Frederic Amiel

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. -- Minnie Aumonier

Thus, the love tool is the interplay of head, hand and heart. Not quite 4H. Each aspect is
inseparable from the others. Heart's compassion is linked to the mind's perception but can the
mind really percieve without the heart's compassion? Also, doesn't the heart perceive and the
mind feel compassion? Hands also feel and perceive (sense.) All give and receive love.
And what of the rest of the body? The love tool is our whole being -- mind, body and spirit.

In the garden, our hands and being connect through the soil with that greater love tool,
Nature, which is also to say, the Earth. The Love Tool has brought us to human being. We should
mind getting our hands heart at work in the Garden. And with our love tools working, we can reap produce!

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