A Continuous Harmony: Essays Cultural and Agricultural

Rating:
Summary: More Profound Insight from Berry
Review: In this small but important book (which describes most of Berry's collections), the great Jeffersonian essaysist takes on modernity and asks fundamental questions about the way we treat our land. Strip mining, reading and nature poetry are some of the subjects covered in this short collection. The most important essay, however, is Discipline and Hope, in which Berry argues that we must adjust our thinking about the planet and our interactions with it. Berry asks basic questions that point to many of the fundamental problems we confront today. How can we be truly free if we depend on others for almost everything of value -- food, clothing, shelter? Why do we surrender ourselves to specialists whose great achievements are usually abstract and aimed at making us dependent upon impersonal schemes? How can we live honorably if we do not honor our neighbors or creation by treating both with respect?

Berry is trying to temper the fast-paced, profit obsessed society we have become by asking questions about the quality of our lives. Why do those who call themselves conservative fail to see the importance of conserving the health of our families, our land, our communities? Are they driven solely by profit and power? How is it that "compassionate" liberals pursue policies that would make us all dependent on government, thereby forcing us as a society to surrender our self reliance and our dignity? Are they concerned about us our their own power base? If we reduce all of life to commodities and measure all worth by what is of value in the short-term, we will surely continue to squander the most valuable parts of life and creation.

Berry argues for a better way. Learn to be truly self reliant. Have the patience to do good work and honor the land on which you live. Care about your community as much as you care about your pocketbook. Grow your own food. Buy from local providers. Learn the wisdom of everyday farmers and craftsmen that has been forgotten and derided in recent decades. If this sounds quaint, well, think again. Our society was built in large measure by men and women who respected and understood nature. If we lose that part of our heritage, Berry argues, we risk not only losing our past, but also our future. Berry knows of that which he preaches -- he is a farmer as well as a writer and has spent decades studying the example of those who have not forgotten that America has always had a loyal opposition that sought to temper industrialization and commercial interests for the sake of the permanent things conservatives like Russell Kirk and T. S. Eliot once fought to preserve.