Locusts

I have a prediction concerning the trajectory of farmers’ markets and the assortment of options that will be available at the majority of them in five to ten years time:  that is, insect markets will be all the vogue in a few short years.  I do, indeed, mean the selling of insects for consumption, and not necessarily chocolate covered ones.  Many so-rated third world countries already have insect tents and mini-markets as an integral part of their available and common options.  Interesting how much of what we called ‘vogue’ and ‘trendy’ in the U.S., be it organic non-GMO conservationists emphasis farming or off-the-grid living, is virtually the norm in what we would normally refer to as third world countries.  Perhaps we are not as progressive as we would like to think – perhaps a better term would be regressive…”back to the garden [of Eden]” is what we may be striving for; perhaps just in the wrong way.  Just as nature has its own forms of symbiotic relationships, be it mutualism, like the ox and birds that pick insects off of its back, or commensalism, like the shark and the Ramora fish, or parasitism, like dogs and roundworms, so the grand scheme of reality, likewise, has a certain intrinsic symbiosis.  A question that may have come to mind two sentences ago is “well, what is the right way then?”  I don’t pretend to have the perfect prescription, but I think if we want to go back to Eden, the yellow-brick road has been paved and it doesn’t necessarily involve organic farming as the means, though there is fruit to be produced and plucked (Gal. 5:22-23).  Thus, a production of good spiritual fruit will result in all the good blessings of physical accoutrements, but the other way around will not work.  Like C.S. Lewis stated [paraphrased], if you aim for heaven you will get Earth thrown in, but if you aim for Earth, you will get neither…one produces mutualism, the other, parasitism.  What does this have to do with locusts?  Egypt aimed for the glory of earth and was destroyed, in part, by the formidable insects.  John the Baptist aimed for heaven and was nourished by the same, albeit with honey as the condiment.