To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want.
Wendell Berry
If that isn’t the most concise indictment and conviction of our economic system ever written, I don’t know what is. Wendell Berry ought to be required reading in high school.
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This is from an excellent essay entitled “The Gift of Good Land.” You can read it all here: https://practicingresurrection.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/the-gift-of-good-land/
When his writing concerns economics, he usually prefers to use “economy” in its original meaning.
My favorite passage from him on the subject of “the economy” comes from the essay “Discipline and Hope.” Here’s an excerpt: https://practicingresurrection.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/let-us-tilt-against-the-windmills/
Finally, if that isn’t enough Wendell Berry for one day, here’s an excellent interview published today in The American Conservative magazine: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/wendell-berry-burkean/
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So very precise….
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Poetic and true.
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The Wendell Berry interview is eloquent….perfect.
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I’m really glad you read (and appreciated) it. Mr. Berry is a treasure. His description of Kentucky politicians is priceless (amid much broader wisdom).
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