Masanobu Fukuoka: Japanese Organic Farmer
(Page 3 of 13)
July/August 1982
By the Mother Earth News staff.
PLOWBOY: Tell me about it.
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FUKUOKA: Well, like many young people, I was having very large, ponderous thoughts about life . . . and my musings led to a lot of skepticism about the human condition. To add to my doubts, I became so ill during that period that there was, for a while, a question of whether or not I would pull through.
Following my eventual recovery, I spent many sleepless nights wandering the streets. The morning after one such episode—when it seemed as though everything were about to explode in my brain—a flash of insight came to me. I suddenly felt that all human existence is meaningless and of no intrinsic value. Humanity knows nothing of real worth at all, I decided, and every action we take is just a futile, empty effort. I also saw that nature is ideally arranged and abundant just as it is . . . therefore, I was sure that we should work in cooperation with the natural processes, rather than try to "improve" on them by conquest.
I know all this may sound preposterous, but whenever I try to put those thoughts into words, they seem to sound that way. The revelation wasn't something that can be easily explained to another person.
PLOWBOY: Why not?
FUKUOKA: Anyone who's had an experience similar to mine will understand instinctively . . . but there's nothing I can say to help those people who don't have this understanding or aren't even looking for it. For example, do you think there's such a thing as a ghost? Have you ever seen a ghost? [With a smile, he points over the inter viewer's shoulder.] Didn't you just see that one? People who've never seen a ghost usually can't believe in them. Those who have had such an experience, though, totally believe in the phenomenon . . . so there's no need to convince them.
PLOWBOY: How did this change in thinking affect your life?
FUKUOKA: I immediately quit my job at the Customs Office. Then I spent the next year or two traveling around the country, talking with people and trying many new experiences. Sometimes I camped in the mountains and sometimes near hot springs. Whenever I was in a city, I would sleep in temples or parks . . . and when I was in the country, I stayed at farmers' homes and worked in their fields with them. I actually started my wanderings with the intention of spreading my new understanding throughout the whole country . . . but whenever I spoke about the meaninglessness of human existence, nobody was interested in what I had to say! I was ignored as an eccentric. So I finally decided that in order to help people understand my theories, I'd have to demonstrate them in some concrete and practical way. I also needed to do that, of course, to convince myself that I was right.
Since I believe that farming is the most worthy of all occupations, I decided to return to my native village and become a farmer. I wanted to see whether I could apply my theory of the uselessness of human knowledge to agriculture . . . so that if people didn't understand my words, I could take them out to the fields and show them the truth of these ideas.
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