Responsible Gardening, Values, and Podcasting

I was listening to an episode of Lance and Graal this morning. The topic of the show was 'Values and Virtues'. A few things left me feeling the need to opine.

One of the personalities on the show - I assume it's Lance since the voice was male - made a comment that went something like this: How can a Pagan, who claims to want to take care of the planet, have a weed filled, uncared for yard and expect to help clean up an oil spill in Alaska? That's just a summation and not a word for word quote. The basic gist of the comment had to do with responsibility and not being hypocritical. Like someone saying: "I want to save the world but I can't even care for my own roses."

What if you believe that nature can care for itself? What if you feel the so called 'weeds' have a right to flourish just a much as the cultivated plants do? Why would we assume that plants need us to care for them? Nature did just fine without being trimmed and pruned for billions of years before gardeners came along. Have you ever seen a proper English garden in the middle of the wilderness? Maybe you stumbled upon the gardens of Versailles tucked away into a clearing within a deep old forest filled with oaks? Not bloody likely.

I do not believe that just because you have a garden that doesn't capture the aesthetic norm means that you are not responsible enough or capable of caring for some other natural problem. If you can fly your ass out to Alaska to clean oil off of birds (even if your garden is overgrown) I say go for it. Make a difference, save some avian lives, and let the plants care for themselves as they have always been able to do.

This is just a silly argument and I wish that Lance (and/or Graal) would choose their words and analogies more carefully. I like pretty things and weeded gardens too, but this teeters a bit on judgmental and narrow sighted.

The Four Values as heard on Lance and Graal:

1.Get your physical space in order.
Some people enjoy living with a little disorder. They are quite happy that way and they function as healthy adults in society. I don't see how this applies to everyone. If an individual feels that they need more order in their lives (due to stress, depression, or an otherwise general malaise) then this 'value' could be a beneficial route for them to take. But not everybody needs to live in a perfectly ordered envrionment. Also, whose idea of "order" are we talking about here? Some people might be comfortable in a moderately picked up living space with a few piles of clutter on the kitchen table and a layer of dust on the furniture. Others might need their space to be, as my best friend and I say, "baseboard clean". This is far too subjective a topic to say what is 'right' or 'normal' for any one person.

2.Get your personality (your personal self) in order.
This is not a bad concept and I will say that I believe everyone could benefit from doing some shadow work and getting to know themselves completely. If nothing else this can benefit the individual in ways that could change the way they see the world and the people within it. The practice of shadow work or personal journeying can also help a person learn to love and accept themselves which in turn leads to compassion for self and thus the rest of humanity.

3.Study
Okay, I'm not even going to debate this because I wholeheartedly agree. I'm not sure it can be called a value though. I think this is referring to values for Clergy (or Priests and Priestesses) which makes a little bit more sense. I believe one should never end the learning process.

4.You've got to engage in ritual practice.
Not sure how I feel about this one. They went on to say that ritual could be a lot of things during the course of the program so I am leaning towards agreement. Repetition leads to tradition which in turn leads to influencing belief systems. This is important but the individual ways to practice ritual are vastly varied.

Overall, I am grateful for the Lance and Graal Pagan Podcast. I appreciate their opinions and the guts they demonstrate to express them, though I might not always agree with everything they say.

Endnote: After writing this post I realized that Lance and Graal are not people. I believe the title of the show is representative of the symbols of God and Goddess. Lance=spear/athame/sword Graal=grail/chalice/cup/cauldron. Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.