For the past few years, I have been hearing more and more about a Kentucky farmer named Wendell Berry. He is as much a writer as he is a farmer, but if you ask me, more than anything he is a prophet.
Wendell has written a lot of fiction and all kinds of essays and poetry. But over the past couple of years, whenever I would try to starting reading his stuff, I never knew where to start. That’s always a problem for me when I stumble onto new writers.
At last I found my entre. The Way of Ignorance and Other Essays is teaching me a lot about this gentle man who speaks boldly for the earth, its inhabitants, and its creator. For all the times I’ve wondered how to combine my rural upbringing, my concern for the environment, and my interest in world events all within the context of my Christian faith, I’ve found it in Wendell.
Here’s a couple of samples: “If we believe, as so many of us profess to do, that the Earth is God’s property and is full of His glory, how can we do harm to any part of it?” AND “‘Every man for himself’ is a doctrine for a feeding frenzy or for a panic in a burning nightclub, appropriate for sharks or hogs or perhaps a cascade of lemmings. A society wishing to endure must speak the language of care-taking, faith-keeping, kindness, neighborliness, and peace. That language is another precious resource that cannot be ‘privatized.'” AND FINALLY, “The way of ignorance, therefore, is to be careful, to know the limits and the efficacy of our knowledge. It is to be humble and to work on an appropriate scale.”
I think my new friend Wendell has a lot to say to me through his writings and his life. I hope some of you might join me in hearing them.
The Way of Ignorance and Other Essays, by Wendell Berry. Published in 2005 by Shoemaker & Hoard.
Yay! New books to read…I have heard of him, but have not read him at all. Thanks!
No easy answers, indeed.
While Berry doesn’t use a computer, he does use a type-writer — or at least his wife seems to on his behalf. (And at least from this reader’s perspective, he benefits at least indirectly from technology. I Googled him, found a book I was interested in, reserved it through my library’s on-line service, and then told the world about him through my blog).
I’m also reading one of his essays now about tractor vs. beast and the scienfication of farming. At the very least what Berry seems to suggest is that we should not assume something is necessarily better because is it technological, scientific, industrialized. (Which Sushil would seem to agree with).
“Cradle to Cradle” sounds like a good next stop for me.
Sushil’s comment is interesting, and rather Shalom-based, if one could express it differently.
However, the idea that growth and technological progress is, in and of itself, harmful is an idea that’s up for dialog.
I know that Berry, for instance, prefers not to use a computer. So, he seems to be a little anti-techno.
Still, I am liking part of the approach of another book I’m reading… Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. The authors propose that growth and “progress” can be harmonious with “life” and “peace,” if business and communities and so forth design things/spaces/etc. with the intent to promote life.
No easy answers, I guess!
The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved as long as cities exist.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.
FAST VISUALS /WORDS MAKE SLOW EMOTIONS EXTINCT.
SCIENTIFIC /INDUSTRIAL /FINANCIAL THINKING DESTROYS EMOTIONAL CIRCUITS.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY CANNOT FEEL PAIN / REMORSE / EMPATHY.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY WILL ALWAYS BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS/ TREES/ AIR/ WATER/ LAND AND TO ITSELF.
To read the complete article please follow either of these links :
PlanetSave
EarthNewsWire
sushil_yadav