We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. And this has been based on the even flimsier assumption that we could know with any certainty what was good even for us. We have fulfilled the danger of this by making our personal pride and greed the standard of our behavior toward the world – to the incalculable disadvantage of the world and every living thing in it. And now, perhaps very close to too late, our great error has become clear. It is not only our creativity – our own capacity for life – that is stifled by our arrogant assumption; the creation itself is stifled.
We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe.
Wendell Berry (1968) A Native Hill
Lois and I have just enjoyed a few days with three of her grandchildren, playing games, visiting museums, sharing activities. One of the highlights was taking the children to the fields below the Church – picking blackberries, collecting horse manure for the garden, and paddling in the stream. All simple pleasures, connecting with creation, appreciating the wonder, beauty and joy of the earth.
More than 50 years ago, Wendell Berry captured a profound truth in his essay A Native Hill. I hope, for our grandchildren’s sake, that we haven’t left it too late. If we could all capture just a little bit of the awe of which he speaks – to realise that ‘what is good for the world will be good for us’ – perhaps we can recapture hope, too.