Wendell Berry is one of the wise old men (except that he’s been saying wise things for decades). He’s a Kentucky farmer, environmental activist, writer and poet. I recommend him to you.
He can be funny in his wisdom: ‘Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.’ He can be rebellious: ‘You can best serve civilization by being against what usually passes for it.’ He can be darkly bitter, too: ‘As soon as the generals and the politicos/ can predict the motions of your mind,/lose it. Leave it as a sign/to mark the false trail, the way you didn’t go.’
In these bruising, baffling days of political ruptures, when I feel despair and powerlessness, I am reminded of a gentler Berry prod: ‘It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work.’
The feeling of not knowing sends me rushing to do something, anything (at the least to complain meaningfully to my friends). Uncertainty is so hard to hold.
But that’s just what Berry is advising. When he says ‘real work’ I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t mean DO more. Instead, probably, do less. Sit still. Go inward. Have a loving, cup of tea with a friend. Go for a walk. Listen to music. Meditate. Quietly and without complaint. Soulfully. Intentionally. Hold the powerlessness and despair gently and get to know them. Learn their lessons.
If we sit long enough we might even find the lion and the lamb that live in our own souls and learn from them, too. Maybe we can even practice helping them learn to live together better. That would really be something.
Annette Atkins
