I learned this morning (Tuesday) that Kentucky farmer, poet and prophet Wendell Berry died at 92 years of age. To me, he was one of the great creation spirituality thinkers and practitioners of our generation.
In his poetry, essays and books he spoke on behalf of the mountains being raped by coal mining, on behalf of the soil being diminished by industrial agriculture, and on behalf of animals being rendered extinct by humanity’s overkill, greed and indifference.
I met him on the occasion when Friends of Creation Spirituality invited him to speak at the UU Church in downtown Oakland. He was direct and forthright, grounded and morally outraged. Being asked to speak in downtown Oakland, he remarked, made all the sense in the world since we all eat. And we have farmers to thank for that.
bell hooks, another Kentucky person of wisdom, praised him for his writings on feminism, racism and love in her book: “belonging: a culture of place,” and used his book on race, “The Hidden Wound,” as a text in teaching college courses.
I discovered Berry about the time I first started translating Hildegard of Bingen. Thanks goes to Marvin Anderson, a young farmer from Nebraska and a student in our first class of ICCS at Mundelein College who also introduced me to John Berger, author of Pig Earth.
I employed Wendell Berry’s writings frequently in my writings and my own meditations. In The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, Berry writes: You cannot devalue the body and value the soul—or value anything else. The isolation of the body sets it into direct conflict with everything else in creation. Nothing could be more absurd than to despise the body and yet yearn for its resurrection. What a stand against dualism of spirit vs matter and body vs. soul this statement is!
In my Original Blessing book, I end the chapter on “Humility as Earthiness” (since the Latin word humus means earth and is the basis of our word “humility”) by lining up side by side powerful teachings from Hildegard and Berry.
Hildegard writes: The earth is at the same time mother, she is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human. She is the mother of all for contained in her are the seeds of all. The earth of humankind contains all moistness, all verdancy, all germinating power. It is in so many ways fruitful. All creation comes from it. Yet it forms not only the basic raw material of humankind, but also the substance of the incarnation of God’s son. How richly she connects incarnation to the very soil of the earth!
Wendell Berry shines as a brother to Hildegard when he writes: I have been groping for connections—that I think are indissoluble, though obscured by modern ambitions—between the spirit and the body, the body and other bodies, the body and earth.
Here lies an entire philosophy for caring for the earth and caring for ourselves. It is impossible to care for another more or differently than we care for the earth. The way we treat the earth is the way we treat self and one another. “Love others as you love yourself”—and your body and the body of Earth we hear Jesus saying.
Berry goes on: There is an uncanny resemblance between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward the earth. Between our relation to our own sexuality and our relation to the reproductivity of the earth, for instance.
Berry walked his talk and when arrested for protesting and being asked if he wanted to be arrested, he responded, “Hell No, but I was willing to be….Nothing else is working.”
Banner Image: Wendell Berry (agricultural prophet): from his lecture “The Work of Local Culture” excerpted by SustainableTraditions.com. Photo by WiselyWoven on Flickr. CC-by-NC-SA 2.0.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree with Berry that it’s absurd to despise the body while yearning for its resurrection? And that our relation to sexuality and to the earth are similar? And that you cannot devalue the body and value the soul—or anything else?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, pp. 58, 65
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond
9 thoughts on “Wendell Berry: Farmer, Mystic, Prophet, Champion of Earth & Body”
Yesterday, conincidently, I watched Future in Focus: A Conversation with Dr. Osterholm, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfqkbj7TEMI Dr. Osterholm when asked what should we take away from the COVID pandemic he said one word. “Humility” We know so little. We have so much to learn. If we are humble we are open and others can feel safe to be open as well.
The Earth has taken back one of her great lovers. I am very sad, but also very grateful for his love letters.
“If we will have the wisdom to survive,
to stand like slow-growing trees
on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it,
if we will make our seasons welcome here,
asking not too much of earth or heaven,
then a long time after we are dead
the lives our lives prepare will live
here, their houses strongly placed
upon the valley sides, fields and gardens
rich in the windows. […]
This is no paradisal dream.
Its hardship is its possibility.” [Wendell Berry, A Vision]
“Be still and listen to the voices that belong
to the stream banks and the trees and the open fields.
Find your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.
Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground underfoot.” [Wendell Berry, A Poem on Hope]
To celebrate his life, I have listened with great emotion to “The Colors of the Wind,” a path to “the wisdom to survive.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95h_tNkdU18
“You think you own whatever land you land on
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name […]
Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?” [Stephen Schwartz, Colors of the Wind]
Thank you, Wendell Berry!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you Matthew for today’s beautiful DM and tribute to the life and works of Wendell Berry. He was a spiritual warrior for Sacred Mother Earth/Her living creatures/Graceful abundance, and I’m sure his Spirit continues inspiring Us and supporting Our continued Human and earthly evolution from Heaven along with other Angels and spirits from Heaven and among Us in Our Loving Diverse Oneness in the Sacred Process of the Eternal Present Moment…
The two enclosed poems/prayers by Wendell Berry in today’s DM are beautiful!
Do I agree with Berry? you ask. Even Genesis says we are creatures of the earth, formed from the earth, and enlivened with God’s breath. That scripture is more than metaphor. It speaks an basic truth; we are made from the stuff of the earth and enhanced in a special way by God breathing his own life into us. Berry says that we should treat all things, the earth, all of it’s creation, and other people with respect, appreciation, love, and care. That’s a new connection for me; I really like it!! Thanks, Mr. Berry! May you rest in joy and excitement in God.
Q:
Do you agree with Berry that it’s absurd to despise the body while yearning for its resurrection? And that our relation to sexuality and to the earth are similar? And that you cannot devalue the body and value the soul—or anything else?
To despise anything is absurd. If God made it all, and He made it all good, then everything belongs and is good – somehow. This is the challenge, nothing is written off as evil, only guided by unhelpful beliefs. It’s our mission to help each other past these unhelpful beliefs so we regain our identity as children of God, made in His image. Then we identify as true Self, Holy Spirit.
I believe that how we treat each other, all people, all faiths, of all backgrounds, and how we treat all animals, domestic and wild, and all other species, and how we treat all of the earth, all of creation, and how we treat knowledge and creativity, is exactly how we treat Christ, how we treat God. Period. Fullstop. Kindness, love and respect, or cruelty, greed, hate and ignorance. There is no other measure, requirement, or judgement. The very instant any religion loses sight of that, it becomes nothing but idolatry, selfishness, darkness and evil.
Yes, i agree totally. So glad to ssee it being spelt out as I have felt alone in my wanderings and observations…
Earth, earthly is the etymological root of Human, Humanity tracing from Latin Humus to the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root *dhéĝhōm or *dhghem-, meaning “earth” or “ground”
GIANLUIGI GUGLIERMETTO – Thank you for replying to my request to research and provide more info for
Matthews’ readers regarding a more balanced view of the Cathars in history and their challenge of
corrupt practices in the Catholic church of the time. I am so grateful for the many ways Matthew has
stood up to ecclesiastical power when it went astray from the truth of Christ’s teachings. I have followed
Creation Spirituality for many years and feel blessed to be part of this wonderful community.