Some nights in the midst of this loneliness I swung among
the scattered stars at the end of the thin thread of faith alone.
You may not have heard the news but Wendell Berry, the Kentucky farmer and writer, has ended his days as a Prophet. He was an amazing man who lived his life true to his convictions such that his ideals were lived out every day of his life. Like other prophets before him he was both adored by those who resonated with his simple wisdom and deep humanity and ignored by the powers that he was convinced were destroying both the America he loved and the Earth we all call home. My question today is this: why do we ignore the prophets who love us and try to save us from ourselves? It seems that people today are just like the folks described in the old Bible stories: they just want to have fun and ignore the fact that their behavior is their doom. Let’s start with an excerpt from a Wendell Berry poem
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Give your approval to all you cannot understand.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
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. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
Wendell was like all the great prophets: speaking and living a life of deep humanity and a threat to those with power and those who are asleep to the beauty all around them. Yet not only the powerful ignored him so have many ordinary folks. Why is that? Perhaps this is because he makes us uncomfortable. He tells us what we know is true but we don’t want to know truth – we just want to keep living a normal life and if that life is a struggle, at least its the struggle we know and understand. Here is an example of this thinking from one of his essays which often explore the role of appropriate technology: it’s entitled Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer. Not only is it very amusing he makes the following logical points because he recognizes that everything in life is a choice between trade offs. In his case, he is not willing to accept being over reliant on the power and money structures that encourage computers and the world view that goes with it, mainly because he loses the ability to control his own life. He argues:
1. Environmental and Energy Concerns
Berry rejects computers because they increase dependence on energy corporations and strip‑mined coal. He prefers tools that use minimal energy and can be powered by the human body.
2. Ethical and Social Values
He believes computers do not contribute to what he values most: peace, ecological health, community stability, and honest work. He criticizes technology companies for promoting unnecessary consumption.
3. Cost and Practicality
Computers are expensive, and Berry does not want to support industries he does not admire.
He argues that new tools should be cheaper, smaller, more efficient, and repairable—criteria computers often fail.
4. Preserving Human Relationships – Buying a computer would replace his wife’s role as typist, editor, and collaborator—something he deeply values.
5. Avoiding Unnecessary Technological Dependence – Berry warns against adopting technology simply because it is new or popular. He emphasizes voluntary simplicity and resisting consumer pressure.
But Wendell was not only a great poet and essayist, he also wrote wonderful fiction. I would strongly recommend that you read Jayber Crow, a story about a barber in a small town in Kentucky. It is a beautiful exploration of the quirks of humanity and will be a salve for your soul.
“You have been given questions to which you cannot be given answers. You will have to live them out – perhaps a little at a time.’ And how long is that going to take?’
I don’t know. As long as you live, perhaps.’ That could be a long time.’
I will tell you a further mystery,’ he said. ‘It may take longer.”
So, dear friend, take a bit of Wendell into your heart today and see that life is the most precious gift and our task while alive is quite simple: share that gift for in so doing our life becomes more amazing than you could possibly imagine. I leave you with a parting gift, Wendel’s poem The Peace of Wild Things.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and I am free.
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