Jessica Hearne
Field Personnel in Danville, Virginia
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it…
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest…
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
(Excerpt from “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer’s Liberation Front” by Wendell Berry)
I have been trying to live more simply for many years. Living simply for me means asking myself what it is that I really need. It means questioning the necessity of things, especially things that are made of plastic, are harmful to the environment, use an excess of resources, or hurt people in their production. Living a simpler life is not a change that happens overnight. In fact, I have been working on it for over 15 years and still feel that I have a long way to go.
I have a printout of the poem above tacked to the bulletin board above my desk, and every time I sit to answer emails, attend a Zoom meeting, record receipts or any number of other computer-related tasks, I will glance up at it and reread a few lines. Wednell Berry’s “manifesto” serves as a reminder to me of the value of living simply. He talks about the joy that comes from contemplating leaf mold, listening to carrion and laughing in the face of the “end of the world.” He reminds me of the importance of being a good steward of the future – even though I won’t live to see it.
The idea of living life simply, of being close to the earth and nature, of eschewing the urge to buy and accumulate, is so counter to the narratives that bombard us daily through the media and through our own human desires, that Berry compares it to resurrection. In order for life to flourish, after all, some things must die. In my garden, the plants that die become the compost that feeds new growth. In the forest on the edge of my town, the trees die and become food for mushrooms and lichen. In my life, my selfishness and needless want must die so my love of the world and all of the life in it can flourish.
A Blessing for Living Simply
May you daily find time to love and appreciate something that you did not create.
May you constantly forget that “time is money.”
If you can’t forget, may you find the value in things that don’t pay.
May your life confuse and confound the algorithms.
May you learn to live simply.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.