Living where we work (Berry)
November 8th, 2006 | Published in Agrarianism, Culture, Life, Quotes, Work | 5 Comments
If we do not live where we work, and when we work, we are wasting our lives, and our work too.
–Wendell Berry, “Living in the Future: The ‘Modern’ Agricultural Ideal” in The Unsettling of America (1972), pp. 79
November 8th, 2006 at 4:40 pm (#)
Joshua, this quote is interesting to me. I’d also be interested to hear what “living where we work” is to Berry. “when we work” as well. are we talking living on the land that sustains us? in the same basic neighborhood?
November 9th, 2006 at 5:09 am (#)
Or is Berry talking about geographical closeness?
November 9th, 2006 at 6:41 pm (#)
He is talking about agriculture. But my guess he thinks it should apply to other areas as well, as do I. When we cease to live when we work, we tend to become specialized and not care about the results. But when we live when we work, we care about what we do. We enjoy what we do.
When we work but do not live, we waste our lives because life becomes something we do when we do not “work.” It is one of our modern false dualisms — just like body and spirit. We try to keep our lives separated between work and home, that is, we do “work” from 9-5 and we do “life” 5-10 and on weekends. But we must realize that work is a wonderful part of life.
November 9th, 2006 at 6:43 pm (#)
JC: I think geographical closeness is a requirement for what Berry is saying, but not the essence of it.
November 10th, 2006 at 12:18 pm (#)
thanks Josh, I didn’t pick up the full meaning of the “when” we work the first time.