Thank you for articulating this. I love what you're saying about craftsmanship, puts me in mind of the beautiful things my father made with wood. There's no way in which monetary payment could adequately equal the value of what he created - the time, love and skill developed over years and years of practice and care in what he did.
That is exactly it isn't it. These things/objects of high craftsmanship are in a sense priceless (if only this pricelessness was included in GDP - then craftsmanship may get the recognition it deserves!). Some of my most treasured possessions would be pretty much worthless if I tried to sell them, but the beauty, meaning, memories attached to them make them worth more than gold -- and I am sure it is the same with your father's creations (and by the sounds of it, they would also have a good monetary value too)
I so respect the holistic unity of Wendell Berry’s overarching philosophical vision across his essays, novels, and poetry. His agrarian perspective is a natural extension of his larger vision of an organic community shaped by ethical commitments to morally centered stewardship rooted in gratitude & love.
Indeed, great point. This is why I believe Mr. Berry is so refreshing and powerful to read. There is an overarching coherence across this writing and his life - which is rare nowadays.
I enjoy walks in the countryside and I write about them, but I struggle with what to write about because there's not much sign of life out there anymore. No one working in the fields, not much wildlife, even in villages there's no one to be seen, no shop nor pub. I walk miles without seeing a soul. As you say, rural culture has disappeared. A pretty village is now more like a wealthy suburb of a nearby town than a community in itself.
One positive, though, is that awareness of quality seems to be coming back. I've noticed it in the world of fashion. I think the likes of Shein have pushed many people over the edge because we all know that clothes as cheap as that must be poor quality. Well-made clothes are more expensive, but better value because they last longer. Hopefully more people will come to recognise that having a few good things is better than a vast collection of crap.
I share your sorrow, Jack. Rural culture with all its beauty and curiosity has been stripped away from vast swathes of the countryside, and often what remains is only there for tourists and thus not really authentic self-sustaining rural life (but I am grateful nethertheless). This is why I love reading the old agrarians especially H.J. Massingham. They captured with their prose and essays what we have lost - and perhaps have given us a baseline to work towards restoring somehow.
And I agree with regards to Shien and the potential for a societal backlash/reaction. What they are doing is so blatantly foul and devoid of quality it is like the mask has slipped. One can hope any way.
You might enjoy 'Zen and the Art of Mortorcycle Maintenance' in relation to the dichotomy of technology and spirituality and how quality is the approach to subjugate the machine to humanity instead of the other way around.
‘Back in the day’ I owned a washing machine that lasted me 22 years! And I used that machine mercilessly because I had a young family that created tonnage in laundry. It was before disposable diapers and various convenience items associated with babies. Machinery of decades past was built not only to last but to be repaired. Our world now has such a ‘disposable economy’ that you’re lucky to have major appliances last half a dozen years! Let alone clothing, furniture and other essential items. It saddens me to see the way of the world and the tremendous amount of resources being wasted on ‘consumerism’. And don’t get me started on the loss of rural life and natural habitats….
Coming from a family of seven, the washing machine was in use almost everyday in our family. My parents must have gotten through 3-4 machines in 20 years...!
I would love to read your perspective on The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The world of the Joads was destroyed by the machine as ruthlessly as the dust bowl of Oklahoma. And we are still seeing its effects on the people and land in California.
That is a great idea. That book sits on our fiction shelf at home staring at me saying “read me”. Your summary sounds like I should make the time to do so.
I appreciate the ideas presented here very much, as a System Administrator with 30 years in the business who is getting very tired these days of the constant push for "more and faster, but not better". I entered the field long ago because it was fun and satisfying to solve difficult problems with the right creative solution, but these days am more and more stuck managing subscription-based outsourced services produced by anonymous programmers in far-off offices who have very little invested in the quality of their work. I feel like a wood carver who used to make beautiful things who now manages an IKEA department. Well, I guess I get paid every week.
I've been wondering lately if there is a way back to simplicity and quality in my field that will still put a roof over my head.
"I feel like a wood carver who used to make beautiful things who now manages an IKEA department. Well, I guess I get paid every week" - what a fantastic analogy!
The constant push for more and faster is the great killer of good work, and I can see (having been an administrator for a time in the past) just how pernicious this attitude is to your work.
It is unlikely that we humans, at least those who see a problem with The Machine, can defeat it. But take heart fellow human nature lovers. We do not have to and we can use it when necessary, aware of its destructive tendencies.
There is a far more powerful and older force that will render it powerleess, all in due time: Mother Nature. The way thngs look now, it might be within the next few decades.
I think you strike a good note with 'quality'. There is a shortage of 'pro-social' responses to the predicament facing many of us moderns, especially as so many, if not all, depend on the fuel in the 'carbon pulse'. 'Quality' appeals to the human mind, for all kinds of work, and is fairly easily recognised and welcome when in service of well-being.
Explicitly in one educational project I know of, they are looking for keystone pro-social responses we can share for the coming work; see Hagens: 'The Great Simplification'.
Agrarian 'we' have been this latter half of the holocene, and agrarian we must largely be again. And that old knowledge from the diversity of farming systems adapted across the world is needed. And there are even older sources of wisdom and knowledge from pre-agrarian form.
PS Goodness ... I read Grapes of Wrath & Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when I was young. Recommended, even if I am a little wistful now.
I've been thinking about this essay and the ideas in it quite a bit recently, especially around quality in material and what it allows in terms of craftmanship for maintenance of a wardrobe. My mother used to mend the clothing she sewed us in our early childhood years. Now, if I purchase a shirt from a mainstream clothing store, the material is usually either too flimsy or too inclined to fray for me to mend if a rip occurs. I simply have to go buy another poor quality machine-produced shirt. The quality-quantity tipping point certainly shows up here. I already tend to buy from consignment shops for budgeting purposes, but the idea of "can this be artfully or practically repaired?" certainly adds a whole new layer of consideration to clothing acquisition.
I really like that consideration "can this be artfully or practically repaired?", Jan. It could go some considerable way to solving our overconsumption crisis if we all paid heed to it more often. Thank you for these excellent reflections.
I think so much of this has to do with our attention -- which I now believe is nearly the most valuable thing we have. Things that take time to create are almost inevitably better quality because we had time to really experience them, to pay attention to them properly. It makes me think of the cathedrals of the past that took hundreds of years to build (something that is almost never allowed to take place today).
I recently bought a handheld taper candle so I can take it from room to room with me in my house once the sun sets. I'm entering a new phase in my life where I'm trying to allow in as much of the "real" as possible, and that means paying attention to my circadian rhythm and limiting bright lights at night. Honestly, I love it. It makes my evenings feel magical, even from modern-day suburbia. After reading your article, I feel a little more supported. A little more in line with the Agrarians you write about who rejected the big tractors, in my own small way.
Thank you for articulating this. I love what you're saying about craftsmanship, puts me in mind of the beautiful things my father made with wood. There's no way in which monetary payment could adequately equal the value of what he created - the time, love and skill developed over years and years of practice and care in what he did.
That is exactly it isn't it. These things/objects of high craftsmanship are in a sense priceless (if only this pricelessness was included in GDP - then craftsmanship may get the recognition it deserves!). Some of my most treasured possessions would be pretty much worthless if I tried to sell them, but the beauty, meaning, memories attached to them make them worth more than gold -- and I am sure it is the same with your father's creations (and by the sounds of it, they would also have a good monetary value too)
I so respect the holistic unity of Wendell Berry’s overarching philosophical vision across his essays, novels, and poetry. His agrarian perspective is a natural extension of his larger vision of an organic community shaped by ethical commitments to morally centered stewardship rooted in gratitude & love.
Indeed, great point. This is why I believe Mr. Berry is so refreshing and powerful to read. There is an overarching coherence across this writing and his life - which is rare nowadays.
I enjoy walks in the countryside and I write about them, but I struggle with what to write about because there's not much sign of life out there anymore. No one working in the fields, not much wildlife, even in villages there's no one to be seen, no shop nor pub. I walk miles without seeing a soul. As you say, rural culture has disappeared. A pretty village is now more like a wealthy suburb of a nearby town than a community in itself.
One positive, though, is that awareness of quality seems to be coming back. I've noticed it in the world of fashion. I think the likes of Shein have pushed many people over the edge because we all know that clothes as cheap as that must be poor quality. Well-made clothes are more expensive, but better value because they last longer. Hopefully more people will come to recognise that having a few good things is better than a vast collection of crap.
I share your sorrow, Jack. Rural culture with all its beauty and curiosity has been stripped away from vast swathes of the countryside, and often what remains is only there for tourists and thus not really authentic self-sustaining rural life (but I am grateful nethertheless). This is why I love reading the old agrarians especially H.J. Massingham. They captured with their prose and essays what we have lost - and perhaps have given us a baseline to work towards restoring somehow.
And I agree with regards to Shien and the potential for a societal backlash/reaction. What they are doing is so blatantly foul and devoid of quality it is like the mask has slipped. One can hope any way.
The endless pursuit of "happiness" through buying stuff we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like.
Sounds like insanity to me!
You might enjoy 'Zen and the Art of Mortorcycle Maintenance' in relation to the dichotomy of technology and spirituality and how quality is the approach to subjugate the machine to humanity instead of the other way around.
You and one other reader have recommended this book to me today. Sounds like I should add it to the to read list!
We somehow have a copy of this at our house! It looks fascinating.
‘Back in the day’ I owned a washing machine that lasted me 22 years! And I used that machine mercilessly because I had a young family that created tonnage in laundry. It was before disposable diapers and various convenience items associated with babies. Machinery of decades past was built not only to last but to be repaired. Our world now has such a ‘disposable economy’ that you’re lucky to have major appliances last half a dozen years! Let alone clothing, furniture and other essential items. It saddens me to see the way of the world and the tremendous amount of resources being wasted on ‘consumerism’. And don’t get me started on the loss of rural life and natural habitats….
Coming from a family of seven, the washing machine was in use almost everyday in our family. My parents must have gotten through 3-4 machines in 20 years...!
I would love to read your perspective on The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The world of the Joads was destroyed by the machine as ruthlessly as the dust bowl of Oklahoma. And we are still seeing its effects on the people and land in California.
That is a great idea. That book sits on our fiction shelf at home staring at me saying “read me”. Your summary sounds like I should make the time to do so.
I appreciate the ideas presented here very much, as a System Administrator with 30 years in the business who is getting very tired these days of the constant push for "more and faster, but not better". I entered the field long ago because it was fun and satisfying to solve difficult problems with the right creative solution, but these days am more and more stuck managing subscription-based outsourced services produced by anonymous programmers in far-off offices who have very little invested in the quality of their work. I feel like a wood carver who used to make beautiful things who now manages an IKEA department. Well, I guess I get paid every week.
I've been wondering lately if there is a way back to simplicity and quality in my field that will still put a roof over my head.
"I feel like a wood carver who used to make beautiful things who now manages an IKEA department. Well, I guess I get paid every week" - what a fantastic analogy!
The constant push for more and faster is the great killer of good work, and I can see (having been an administrator for a time in the past) just how pernicious this attitude is to your work.
It is unlikely that we humans, at least those who see a problem with The Machine, can defeat it. But take heart fellow human nature lovers. We do not have to and we can use it when necessary, aware of its destructive tendencies.
There is a far more powerful and older force that will render it powerleess, all in due time: Mother Nature. The way thngs look now, it might be within the next few decades.
I think you strike a good note with 'quality'. There is a shortage of 'pro-social' responses to the predicament facing many of us moderns, especially as so many, if not all, depend on the fuel in the 'carbon pulse'. 'Quality' appeals to the human mind, for all kinds of work, and is fairly easily recognised and welcome when in service of well-being.
Explicitly in one educational project I know of, they are looking for keystone pro-social responses we can share for the coming work; see Hagens: 'The Great Simplification'.
Agrarian 'we' have been this latter half of the holocene, and agrarian we must largely be again. And that old knowledge from the diversity of farming systems adapted across the world is needed. And there are even older sources of wisdom and knowledge from pre-agrarian form.
PS Goodness ... I read Grapes of Wrath & Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when I was young. Recommended, even if I am a little wistful now.
I've been thinking about this essay and the ideas in it quite a bit recently, especially around quality in material and what it allows in terms of craftmanship for maintenance of a wardrobe. My mother used to mend the clothing she sewed us in our early childhood years. Now, if I purchase a shirt from a mainstream clothing store, the material is usually either too flimsy or too inclined to fray for me to mend if a rip occurs. I simply have to go buy another poor quality machine-produced shirt. The quality-quantity tipping point certainly shows up here. I already tend to buy from consignment shops for budgeting purposes, but the idea of "can this be artfully or practically repaired?" certainly adds a whole new layer of consideration to clothing acquisition.
I really like that consideration "can this be artfully or practically repaired?", Jan. It could go some considerable way to solving our overconsumption crisis if we all paid heed to it more often. Thank you for these excellent reflections.
I think so much of this has to do with our attention -- which I now believe is nearly the most valuable thing we have. Things that take time to create are almost inevitably better quality because we had time to really experience them, to pay attention to them properly. It makes me think of the cathedrals of the past that took hundreds of years to build (something that is almost never allowed to take place today).
I recently bought a handheld taper candle so I can take it from room to room with me in my house once the sun sets. I'm entering a new phase in my life where I'm trying to allow in as much of the "real" as possible, and that means paying attention to my circadian rhythm and limiting bright lights at night. Honestly, I love it. It makes my evenings feel magical, even from modern-day suburbia. After reading your article, I feel a little more supported. A little more in line with the Agrarians you write about who rejected the big tractors, in my own small way.