WENDELL BERRY REDUX

I discovered Wendell Berry last year. The more I read, the more I like.


From Some Further Words in essay collection Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth. Some of the authors are Christians. Some are not. The common theme is the deadly split between how the dominat culture of the west views the rest of Creation and the truth of Creation itself. We better get our ducks in a row. We can help solve our problems or the earth with do it for us. I can guarantee we won't like the results.
"Let me be plain with you dear reader, I am an old fashioned man. I like the world of Nature despite its mortal dangers/ I like the domestic world of humans, so long as it pays its debts to the natural world and pays its debts to the natural world, and keeps its bounds. I like the promise of Heaven. My purpose is a language that can repay just thanks and repay these gifts, a tongue free from fashionable lies.

Neither this world nor any of its places is an “environment.” And a house for sale is not a “home.” Economics is not a “science” nor “information” knowledge. A knave with a degree is a knave/ A fool in public office is not a “leader.” A rich thief is a thief. And the ghost of Arthur Moore who taught me Chaucer, returns in the night to say again: “Let me tell you something boy. An intellectual whore is still a whore.”

The world is babbled to pieces after the divorce of things from their names. Ceaseless preparation for war is not peace. Health is not procured by the sale of medication, or purity by the addition of poison. Science at the bidding of the corporations is knowledge reduced to merchandise; it is a whoredom of the mind, and so is the art that calls this “progress.” So is the cowardice that calls this “inevitable.” "

This is the beginning of a much longer essay but this is definitely the best part. I suspect that he doesn’t mind if you disagree with him but you’d better have your ducks in a row before you take him on.

I just got the book today so I've barely had a chance to check out the table of contents but it looks like there is some really good material. I will let you know