Shoshin (初心) is a concept in Zen Buddhism meaning “beginner’s mind“. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would.
I guess I am an odd bird in the sense that I grew up around farming and kept at it despite my initial distaste for the fields. It turns out that what I really didn’t care for was mono-culture farming with it’s reliance on chemical inputs and adversarial relationship to nature. A decade plus later, I still love growing good food and relish the opportunity to make discoveries while doing the work.
