Things I Think…
1. The deaths of Wendell Berry and Annie Dillard leave a huge void in our societal consciousness and thinking…though few seem to want to think like these writers invited us to…
2. Some AI executives have resigned because they believe that AI is an existential threat to humanity…they may be right…Berry addressed all the threats to humanity…and how to live in their face…
“Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.”
“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” The Country of Marriage
3. When I was young the only “existential threat” to humanity was the threat of nuclear weapons…but we had stable leaders. Now we have a President who would blow us all to hell if it thought he could profit from it…
4. You know what isn’t an existential threat to humanity? What consenting adults do in the privacy of their homes…focus, people…
5. Berry was wary of identifying with a political party…
“As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it.”
“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” The Country of Marriage Common Good Collective
6. Berry tends to ask how we should live in the world; Dillard asks whether we are actually awake enough to see the world at all…
“We are here to witness.”
Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters
Dillard’s theology of attention is fascinating. She sees paying attention itself as a spiritual act—a way of honoring creation rather than rushing past it.. My hero/mentor Charles Bowden often quoted “The Death Of A Salesman”…”attention must be paid”…
7. Theodicy is a difficult subject for all of us…but Dillard here is enlightening…sometimes, darkness is necessary…
“You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary.”
8. Everyone’s favorite Dillard quote…
“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”
Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters
9. I’ve been mourning the loss of Bowden for12 years…the losses of Berry and Dillard do not compound that grief they simply invigorate it. I mourn not the loss of persons, but the loss of voices that were unafraid to speak truth to both power and the powerless…
10. I’m reminded again that I will think as well as I read and write as well as I think…and know that I need to read more…
Point number 10 is so good. I read “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” in high school, and I loved it. I haven’t read any other of Dillard’s works, and I will need to look them up.
Reading feeds our minds and our souls. I can go back and re-read something and see a different aspect each time. I don’t know what I would do without books!
Linn,
May your tribe increase…and pass your love of reading to the next generations…
“Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.”
I admire those who can do this, but I haven’t been able to manage it up to this point in my life. I don’t know if I’ll achieve it on this side of death, but maybe there are more seasons of growth beyond.
Robert F,
I’m not there yet, but I’m practicing…
Long time Berry fan here.
‘Jayber Crow’ is my favorite.
Been reading Ezekiel 21 & 22.
Am reminded that God’s judgment is certain but also know that His mercy endures forever.
#2…laughing in the face of the end. Really tough, like Robert F and Michael have alluded to.
Science fiction literature and movies have either an uncanny ability to predict the future, or like a broken clock, gets it right once in a while. In the movie “Terminator 2”, Skynet became self-aware and proceeded to defend itself against it’s programmers attempt to “pull the plug” on Skynet. I would hate to think that what Skynet did is our future, but nevertheless, we are called to a higher response.
Laughing in the face of the end. I am not there yet, but hope to be sometime.