“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 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. We must recover the sense of the majesty of
creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt
that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world
that our species will be able to remain in it. ~ Wendell Berry, American Poet
& Novelist
Comments
Post a Comment