The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook_ A Home Manual - James Green [2]
So, “When an individual goes public, publishing a book discussing his experiences, beliefs, and opinions, especially in the realms of health and personal power, it is important to give the reader a self-disclosure of one’s bias. Currently, in this Western culture of ours, the fact that what I have written has been published tends to display me as an authority. In light of this strange cultural phenomenon, I wish to supply the discriminating reader and herbal learner with appropriately insightful information to help him or her question this authority. Nothing that I say is presented by me as the Truth! I am merely disclosing my current truth. The printed voice of this book will share my knowledge, observations, and opinions based on my experiences, punctuated by what wisdom I have gathered. Every individual has a share of wisdom to pass around. As your mind travels through the landscape of ideas I design and construct for you in this herbal manual, please do not slip into a passive state of observation. In the light of your life experiences, measure and question my opinions and conclusions. I accept the risk of being proven wrong. If the fervor of my expression of these opinions ascends a street orator’s platform for a paragraph or two, allow me the social blunder; it’s just an idiosyncrasy of my particular humanness. Do not fault me for my passion. Rather, make note of any disagreements you may have, get back to me, and point out the possible errors of my current beliefs. This way we can interact and communicate as co-seekers and creators, and as co-members of a species that obviously has much to discover about itself and about the transcendent universe in which it thrives.
“We are, with one another, co-creating a most magnificent and fascinating age. And our current creation is so very splendid precisely because each of us contributes a unique perspective. The term ‘expert’ is derived from the verbal root per meaning to try, to risk, to press forward. All of us do that with every new thought and experience we create. Living a life qualifies each of us as an expert. We don’t have to agree with each other for things to work, merely appreciate one another and enjoy our differences. I can live with the fact that some people will always think of authors as experts, as long as it is duly noted that the universal characteristic of experts is that they normally disagree with one another.”
I’m almost finished here.…
As we proceed through this handbook, I will not be giving you long lists of things to get. I will give you short lists of equipment and resources that will be completely adequate to get you started. I encourage you to trust your innovative cunning to guide you further in a suitable expansion of your assemblage, deciding for yourself what you will need to best support your particular style and evolving techniques. Learn the elementary principles, then unfold in your own way.
I’m not going to include innumerable, point by point, watch-me-do-it illustrations either. With a few (adroitly placed) drawings, this handbook will get you started in splendid fashion; it will give you cardinal processes as practical allies that point the way and encourage you to embark dauntlessly on your journey. Your imagination and intrinsic abilities will usher you on from there. Herbal medicine-making is more engaging this way, and you will beget astonishingly clever ideas. Remember, Herbalism is a human response to plants, and this response ever dwells alive and well