not mentally ill, just spiritual

What a trail. I am talking with people every day about how to find a lab that will test the slug and snail tissue. I mean, how to find funding for the analysis. I can see the opportunity for a grant; combine the fact that garden mollusks are an untapped local (organic?) resource, a protein source with no antibiotics or irradiation, and eating them is a way to avoid pesticides or garden mutilation, that adds up to a serious agricultural food science pesticide reduction GRANT! (and if we discover they are toxic little pollution receptacles, good to know)

And I keep the faith. The faith that mental illness comes from blocking these ideas, not from patiently excavating and seeking alternate routes. I bring up mental illness because most people I know have at one time or another been concerned about their mental well being. Most likely they were on the cusp of a new awakening or spiritual growth spurt. Perhaps they were grieving a loss left unattended for far too long, or a recent setback. Maybe working so hard at something stressful and forgetting about food, rest, and fun. I see this whole snail, slug, and coral thing (that has to do with my work to help the coral reefs) as a direct link with my spiritual need to live in the eternal center of life and death. Recently when asked about my use of the word spiritual:

Chris: What do you mean when you say "Spiritual?" I am curious because a lot of people say "spiritual" and it seems like what they are expressing is a higher emotional sensitivity to things. Almost like if they have a strong emotional connection or feeling towards things, they are somehow more spiritual than others...
Me: I guess when I say "spiritual," it's about life and death. Religion and spiritual questing originated with people's desire to understand life and death. Not just life and death of the physical body, but life and death of thoughts, feelings, dreams, phases...change and passage. How do we live in the presence of the passing and the becoming?

And we biked on. And so with that little side trip, I return to the situation at hand. I am going to call Scott Exo of the Food Alliance and see if he has any guidance. He's very involved in matters of sustainability and agribusiness. Wise to these things that we eat, breed, and seed.