1st Stepping Stone
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The Stepping Stones have two aspects in each, one is the physical the
other is the psychological. Each of the First Stepping Stone will be
described below.
This Stepping Stone focuses on Engaging. More specifically with your immediate environment and yourself.
Any Saegoah can strive to achieve Ehoah in their own way, this is just one way of going about it.
This Stepping Stone focuses on Engaging. More specifically with your immediate environment and yourself.
Any Saegoah can strive to achieve Ehoah in their own way, this is just one way of going about it.
The Physical
The physical aspect of the First Stepping Stone is the Saegoah finding a native wild plant that they are attracted to and to harvest seeds from that plant and grow it in a pot so that it can reach maturity and be maintained within your home. Without plants nothing we know on this planet would exist, so it is key to begin your learning with the primary life form. Plants provide direct benefits of air, food, water purification, medicine and aesthetics. This project helps to realize that wildlife is always there and doesn’t have to come in an animated form or as a mega fauna.
Learning about your local plants embeds you into your immediate environment, creating an awareness of why they grow where they do, how other life forms utilize it and how fauna activities revolve around it, as your local environment and ecosystem is completely determined by your local flora.
Wild native plants are a little more difficult to find in urban areas. This is where local parks, community gardens, and especially vacant lots can be used. If finding wild native plants prove to be too difficult (including trees), then established perennial outdoor plants are an alternative option for self harvest. Otherwise try to find a nursery that you can buy native seeds from, so that when it comes time to plant, local fauna can benefit from it.
Prior to harvesting the seeds of your desired plant. Learn as much as you can about it's requirements. It may need to be transferred to larger pots as it grows, it may require lots of water or barely any. Some plants need direct sunlight while others prefer shade.
This plant should not be planted in the ground until a later stepping stone is reached. Until then, it should remain taken care of in your home. An optional form of caring for your plant, which is great for apartment dwellers, is a terrarium (follow link to learn more). Many trees cannot be sustained in a pot after 2-3 yrs unless pruned in a specific manner (this link on basic bonsai would be helpful for this). If you happened to have learned that your chosen plant cannot be maintained indefinitely in a pot in the midst of growing it; it is recommended that you plant it close to home and maintain it from there. Try to avoid areas that do not have the conditions your plant requires.
An outdoor space is absolutely not necessary for you to plant your plants. When it comes time to do so, a yard seems a mandatory thing, when it really isn’t the case.
One option is to ask someone who has a yard if they would like to have your plant.
Another is to sell it at a market, i.e. Farmer’s Market, for a small price. A free give away sign wouldn’t be a bad idea either, but would likely get less experienced individuals that may not be good care takers or lead well experienced people to think your plant is somehow diseased or inferior (if you are moving that might be a good thing to add to the sign and lead more experienced people to take it off your hands).
A third option is to guerrilla garden. Guerrilla gardening is when you plant your vegetation in rebellious areas such as parks, alleys, vacant lots – pretty much anywhere soil isn’t used. There are a surprising amount of methods to accomplish this that can be found through online research.
After this you should acquire another native plant conducive to living in a pot within your home, try researching your chosen plant before growing it to avoid this in the future. This will teach discipline, patience, responsibility, awareness, and train your memory. You will find that this plant will become very much a part of your home and will bring serenity to you if it has been given good care, not to mention better air quality.
Do not get discouraged if the plant you grew dies, it has returned to the earth and have given its gift of fertility to it, allowing the cycle to begin again. Remember, there are no mistakes - only lessons. So make it a lesson to take with you when you begin the cycle again. By continuing on this journey of caring for the primary life form, you will gain much wisdom and gratitude.
Through growing a local native plant you will learn, and learn quickly, how the primary life form on earth operates and become distinctly aware of your immediate environment. It is from plants that all other animated life depends and in respecting this form of life, you in turn show respect to all other life.
Learning about your local plants embeds you into your immediate environment, creating an awareness of why they grow where they do, how other life forms utilize it and how fauna activities revolve around it, as your local environment and ecosystem is completely determined by your local flora.
Wild native plants are a little more difficult to find in urban areas. This is where local parks, community gardens, and especially vacant lots can be used. If finding wild native plants prove to be too difficult (including trees), then established perennial outdoor plants are an alternative option for self harvest. Otherwise try to find a nursery that you can buy native seeds from, so that when it comes time to plant, local fauna can benefit from it.
Prior to harvesting the seeds of your desired plant. Learn as much as you can about it's requirements. It may need to be transferred to larger pots as it grows, it may require lots of water or barely any. Some plants need direct sunlight while others prefer shade.
This plant should not be planted in the ground until a later stepping stone is reached. Until then, it should remain taken care of in your home. An optional form of caring for your plant, which is great for apartment dwellers, is a terrarium (follow link to learn more). Many trees cannot be sustained in a pot after 2-3 yrs unless pruned in a specific manner (this link on basic bonsai would be helpful for this). If you happened to have learned that your chosen plant cannot be maintained indefinitely in a pot in the midst of growing it; it is recommended that you plant it close to home and maintain it from there. Try to avoid areas that do not have the conditions your plant requires.
An outdoor space is absolutely not necessary for you to plant your plants. When it comes time to do so, a yard seems a mandatory thing, when it really isn’t the case.
One option is to ask someone who has a yard if they would like to have your plant.
Another is to sell it at a market, i.e. Farmer’s Market, for a small price. A free give away sign wouldn’t be a bad idea either, but would likely get less experienced individuals that may not be good care takers or lead well experienced people to think your plant is somehow diseased or inferior (if you are moving that might be a good thing to add to the sign and lead more experienced people to take it off your hands).
A third option is to guerrilla garden. Guerrilla gardening is when you plant your vegetation in rebellious areas such as parks, alleys, vacant lots – pretty much anywhere soil isn’t used. There are a surprising amount of methods to accomplish this that can be found through online research.
After this you should acquire another native plant conducive to living in a pot within your home, try researching your chosen plant before growing it to avoid this in the future. This will teach discipline, patience, responsibility, awareness, and train your memory. You will find that this plant will become very much a part of your home and will bring serenity to you if it has been given good care, not to mention better air quality.
Do not get discouraged if the plant you grew dies, it has returned to the earth and have given its gift of fertility to it, allowing the cycle to begin again. Remember, there are no mistakes - only lessons. So make it a lesson to take with you when you begin the cycle again. By continuing on this journey of caring for the primary life form, you will gain much wisdom and gratitude.
Through growing a local native plant you will learn, and learn quickly, how the primary life form on earth operates and become distinctly aware of your immediate environment. It is from plants that all other animated life depends and in respecting this form of life, you in turn show respect to all other life.
The Psychological
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The psychological aspect of the first stepping stone in the Novemmorium is Sincerity. More specifically being sincere with yourself.
Every time you feel a strong emotion, ask yourself why you feel that way. Self analyzing like this enables you to understand yourself better. Without understanding yourself, how are you to be expected to understand others? This will aid in gaining self control of not only your emotions but over other habits too.
When ever you find yourself doing something that you later regret, ask why you are doing it in the first place. Is it peer pressure? A rise in excitement or other positive feeling? Or is it habit? It could very well be something else entirely that is not mentioned here. What ever it is, take some serious time to mull over why and what you can do to change it. Then the next time you find yourself in that situation challenge it in the way you prepared to.
In everything you do each day, think about why you do it instead of something else. Would you rather be doing something else? Why are you not doing it? Then think heavily about that. If you were to seriously go forward with doing something else, how would you go about it? Make a plan of action, then do it. Avoid letting be "I'll do it tomorrow". If it comes to that do it today, right now. There are not many opportunities to do what you would like and the biggest of all regrets is waiting until it's too late - that being you're dead. In other words, age shouldn't be a determining factor, finance should have very little to do with it either. Most of it has to do with simply doing it. In convincing yourself that you will do it someday is being insincere with yourself. To be truly sincere act on what you believe, otherwise why are you believing it? With an outside perspective, from your actions what can you infer on your beliefs?
Every time you feel a strong emotion, ask yourself why you feel that way. Self analyzing like this enables you to understand yourself better. Without understanding yourself, how are you to be expected to understand others? This will aid in gaining self control of not only your emotions but over other habits too.
When ever you find yourself doing something that you later regret, ask why you are doing it in the first place. Is it peer pressure? A rise in excitement or other positive feeling? Or is it habit? It could very well be something else entirely that is not mentioned here. What ever it is, take some serious time to mull over why and what you can do to change it. Then the next time you find yourself in that situation challenge it in the way you prepared to.
In everything you do each day, think about why you do it instead of something else. Would you rather be doing something else? Why are you not doing it? Then think heavily about that. If you were to seriously go forward with doing something else, how would you go about it? Make a plan of action, then do it. Avoid letting be "I'll do it tomorrow". If it comes to that do it today, right now. There are not many opportunities to do what you would like and the biggest of all regrets is waiting until it's too late - that being you're dead. In other words, age shouldn't be a determining factor, finance should have very little to do with it either. Most of it has to do with simply doing it. In convincing yourself that you will do it someday is being insincere with yourself. To be truly sincere act on what you believe, otherwise why are you believing it? With an outside perspective, from your actions what can you infer on your beliefs?
End Result
The end of the first stepping stone is reached when you have:
- A mature house plant grown from seed from a native variety in your region that is healthy and vibrant
- Filtered through all your feelings and activities, have come to be sincere with yourself in all of them, and have worked through all the issues that have come up.
It may take weeks, months or years before completing the first stepping stone. But once complete, the other stepping stones will come to you easier through your experience.
If you skip past a stepping stone to the next, you will have a harder time achieving the next one and each following that due to not having a foundation to build on, and not fully understanding the message. Reading ahead may also cause confusion as to what is being taught, losing the value of the lesson.
- A mature house plant grown from seed from a native variety in your region that is healthy and vibrant
- Filtered through all your feelings and activities, have come to be sincere with yourself in all of them, and have worked through all the issues that have come up.
It may take weeks, months or years before completing the first stepping stone. But once complete, the other stepping stones will come to you easier through your experience.
If you skip past a stepping stone to the next, you will have a harder time achieving the next one and each following that due to not having a foundation to build on, and not fully understanding the message. Reading ahead may also cause confusion as to what is being taught, losing the value of the lesson.
