I have enjoyed your thoughts, as always. Funny enough, I just finished re-reading "The Pleasure of Work", part of Wendell's latest book "The Need to Be Whole" and the first essay of the summer 2022 edition of The Berry Center Journal. In it, Wendell answers you in many ways, trying to expand his faith in the merit of physical work towards a broader societal function.
I will Wendell handle that aspect - he does everything better than I could, always.
But I will focus on your claim that 'urban people would not be happier if they devoted part of their work week towards physical work'. I think this is fundamentally untrue for the vast majority of modern knowledge economy workers. To the contrary, I think this is precisely the message urban and suburban people should take from Wendell's writings: No, we will not be farmers in Henry County. But yes, we can be connected to the land wherever we are, even in the middle of Manhattan.
Doug founded this non-profit to save our ecosystem. But in addition to doing that, anyone who chooses to participate will re-discover Wendell's dictum that physical work is pure pleasure. It can be as little as a container on your balcony, if you happen to live at Times Square. Or it could be an effort to re-wild your front yard. Reduce your lawn and start a meadow. Replace invasives with native shrubs. Plant an oak tree and watch it out-live you. All of these tasks can be done for anyone who has even a remnant of physical energy left. Easily into your 90s. If you are 35 years old, you might tackle your local park - or your in-laws' lawn desert. If you are 85 years old, you do a few containers. If not gardening, you join a birder group and install birdhouses. Or you do a number of other things that are 'physical work', i.e., not sitting in front of the computer.
Many suburban and urban folks have lost the ability to enjoy these tasks. My favorite are those people who run to the gym while hired help mows their lawn. Pure idiocy! Mowing the lawn could be the daily workout. Smelling the flowers could be the daily connecting with your land.
I think that we have withered culturally, along the lines you describe so well. We have lost the ability to enjoy gardening, and birding, and beekeeping, and growing herbs in the kitchen window. But it can be re-learned: My wife and I are living proof. We also were lost in the modern -aseptic- knowledge economy. But reading Wendell has helped us find the southeastern PA suburbia version of Wendell's farm work - and our lives are so very much richer! I just saw the very first hummingbird of the year explore my Kniphofias and emerging Monarda didyma - pure joy.
It's all so interesting, isn't it? And thank you again for reading and writing -- it gives me quite a lift. Yes indeed, Wendell writes about the pleasure of work beautifully (of course) and frequently. I think I will be returning to this thicket because I continue to wonder about all of it, including your very legitimate challenge that most knowledge workers would be happier doing less knowledge work and more physical work. Absolutely there are be many like you and your wife -- reconnecting with nature through physical tending, and doing it at every scale, in every kind of space. But I know there to be so many others, like those in my parents suburb in northeastern Ohio who hire out every inch of the landscaping and maintenance for their beautifully manicured mini-estates. And those in the burb where I work who are opting to buy homes with no landscaping at all, not wanting to deal with any of it. And the Netflix-addicted, of course. This is the conundrum I've been pondering: everyone wants to be "closer to nature," but it requires physical involvement -- a committment of bodily energy. And you nailed it -- "we've lost the ability to enjoy. We've withered." Though I'm sure Wendell would say "start small," as you have.
As for me, it's a little different. There's something happening in Wendells' descriptions of the pleasure of work that is social and communal. In his labor he's connecting with nature, but also with the work of the village, with the needs of the neighbors, his stock, with the lives of the creatures and all the stuff that's growing around him. As I've been reflecting, I see that his hard physical work is in service to, and in enjoyment of, that way of life. And that's what I find so appealing, and so bittersweet. Because that's not something that can be replicated by any individual effort or commitment. It's a system that we've abandoned.
Which is not to say that everyone shouldn't grow and plant and cultivate the goodness of this green earth! I also take delight in seeing the butterlies and birds that visit our gardens and foliage. It might be that I just want more of it -- to max out that feeling, which is kind of what I feel, vicariously, when I read him Thank you also for sharing Doug Tallamy with me. I didn't know of him.
I think the observation you share - "...many others who hire out every inch of the landscaping and maintenance of their...mini-estates" is true all across America. And much beyond America. But this does not mean that it is healthy nor unchangeable - after all, many of us and/or our kids are addicted to social media, right? Even though we know that it is not good for us/them, and that it makes us less happy.
My argument is that most of these people would indeed enjoy "reconnecting with nature", which is distinct from "physical work" in nature. Learning, again, to slow down and smell the proverbial roses will convert lawnmowing from "physical work" to an opportunity to enjoy nature and be rooted in nature.
Now - how do we accomplish this culture change? That is the vexing question, isn't it. How do we change our hyper-individualistic society back to a more community-driven society? That surely is above my pay grade - we need Wendell.
This essay is so timely as I just finished reading The Need to Be Whole. Phew, it was a lot! But as alone as Wendell is in his cry for a return to respect for bodily labor that is done lovingly and well, the idea has really started to transform me. I'm the quintessential millennial knowledge worker (I even work for a company that consults specifically in the knowledge industry) but I'm trying to slooooow down and focus on doing lovelier work, more slowly, as a way to resist optimization in other areas of my life. For example: gardening or baking bread; I want to give up simply because of the mess it makes! But cleaning up the mess is part of doing the work with my hands well, appreciating not just the outcome but the process. It changes me inside. I can really relate to your line saying "the absence of bodily wisdom creates a compensatory kind of intellectual overdrive." Thank you for sharing all of your thoughts!
Hi Catie. Thank you so much for reading and commenting -- it's quite exciting to connect with (a few) people this way. Did I read you're a Pacific Northwesterner? I am too :). And yes to slowing down, anti-optimizing and bread of course! I'm a life-long striver in all of this and I think my sadness arises from the fact that we're not living in communities that naturally support these kinds of rhythms and pleasures. So I read Wendell. A lot! And write from time to time. I invite you check out some of my older posts, which you might relate to as well. There are so few urbanists who seem down for all this. Thank you again.
I was born and raised outside of Portland, but now live in Helena, MT - it was quite the culture shock when I first moved from Oregon to Montana 8 years ago, but now I wouldn't trade it for anything. There's an interesting tension here between very rural roots and an increasingly urbanized culture, especially with how many people have moved here in the past few years. (Similar to how Oregon/Washington were several decades ago.) Anyway, I'm only a year or so into my journey with Wendell and he came along for me at just the right time. I'll definitely peruse some of your older writing! I'm happy to have connected here!
Happy Saturday Ken!
I have enjoyed your thoughts, as always. Funny enough, I just finished re-reading "The Pleasure of Work", part of Wendell's latest book "The Need to Be Whole" and the first essay of the summer 2022 edition of The Berry Center Journal. In it, Wendell answers you in many ways, trying to expand his faith in the merit of physical work towards a broader societal function.
I will Wendell handle that aspect - he does everything better than I could, always.
But I will focus on your claim that 'urban people would not be happier if they devoted part of their work week towards physical work'. I think this is fundamentally untrue for the vast majority of modern knowledge economy workers. To the contrary, I think this is precisely the message urban and suburban people should take from Wendell's writings: No, we will not be farmers in Henry County. But yes, we can be connected to the land wherever we are, even in the middle of Manhattan.
Have you heard of Doug Tallamy's "Homegrown National Park"? Link is here: https://www.homegrownnationalpark.org/
Doug founded this non-profit to save our ecosystem. But in addition to doing that, anyone who chooses to participate will re-discover Wendell's dictum that physical work is pure pleasure. It can be as little as a container on your balcony, if you happen to live at Times Square. Or it could be an effort to re-wild your front yard. Reduce your lawn and start a meadow. Replace invasives with native shrubs. Plant an oak tree and watch it out-live you. All of these tasks can be done for anyone who has even a remnant of physical energy left. Easily into your 90s. If you are 35 years old, you might tackle your local park - or your in-laws' lawn desert. If you are 85 years old, you do a few containers. If not gardening, you join a birder group and install birdhouses. Or you do a number of other things that are 'physical work', i.e., not sitting in front of the computer.
Many suburban and urban folks have lost the ability to enjoy these tasks. My favorite are those people who run to the gym while hired help mows their lawn. Pure idiocy! Mowing the lawn could be the daily workout. Smelling the flowers could be the daily connecting with your land.
I think that we have withered culturally, along the lines you describe so well. We have lost the ability to enjoy gardening, and birding, and beekeeping, and growing herbs in the kitchen window. But it can be re-learned: My wife and I are living proof. We also were lost in the modern -aseptic- knowledge economy. But reading Wendell has helped us find the southeastern PA suburbia version of Wendell's farm work - and our lives are so very much richer! I just saw the very first hummingbird of the year explore my Kniphofias and emerging Monarda didyma - pure joy.
It's all so interesting, isn't it? And thank you again for reading and writing -- it gives me quite a lift. Yes indeed, Wendell writes about the pleasure of work beautifully (of course) and frequently. I think I will be returning to this thicket because I continue to wonder about all of it, including your very legitimate challenge that most knowledge workers would be happier doing less knowledge work and more physical work. Absolutely there are be many like you and your wife -- reconnecting with nature through physical tending, and doing it at every scale, in every kind of space. But I know there to be so many others, like those in my parents suburb in northeastern Ohio who hire out every inch of the landscaping and maintenance for their beautifully manicured mini-estates. And those in the burb where I work who are opting to buy homes with no landscaping at all, not wanting to deal with any of it. And the Netflix-addicted, of course. This is the conundrum I've been pondering: everyone wants to be "closer to nature," but it requires physical involvement -- a committment of bodily energy. And you nailed it -- "we've lost the ability to enjoy. We've withered." Though I'm sure Wendell would say "start small," as you have.
As for me, it's a little different. There's something happening in Wendells' descriptions of the pleasure of work that is social and communal. In his labor he's connecting with nature, but also with the work of the village, with the needs of the neighbors, his stock, with the lives of the creatures and all the stuff that's growing around him. As I've been reflecting, I see that his hard physical work is in service to, and in enjoyment of, that way of life. And that's what I find so appealing, and so bittersweet. Because that's not something that can be replicated by any individual effort or commitment. It's a system that we've abandoned.
Which is not to say that everyone shouldn't grow and plant and cultivate the goodness of this green earth! I also take delight in seeing the butterlies and birds that visit our gardens and foliage. It might be that I just want more of it -- to max out that feeling, which is kind of what I feel, vicariously, when I read him Thank you also for sharing Doug Tallamy with me. I didn't know of him.
I think the observation you share - "...many others who hire out every inch of the landscaping and maintenance of their...mini-estates" is true all across America. And much beyond America. But this does not mean that it is healthy nor unchangeable - after all, many of us and/or our kids are addicted to social media, right? Even though we know that it is not good for us/them, and that it makes us less happy.
My argument is that most of these people would indeed enjoy "reconnecting with nature", which is distinct from "physical work" in nature. Learning, again, to slow down and smell the proverbial roses will convert lawnmowing from "physical work" to an opportunity to enjoy nature and be rooted in nature.
Now - how do we accomplish this culture change? That is the vexing question, isn't it. How do we change our hyper-individualistic society back to a more community-driven society? That surely is above my pay grade - we need Wendell.
I know I need him! Thank you for engaging with me on these questions. I appreciate your clear-sightedness as always.
This essay is so timely as I just finished reading The Need to Be Whole. Phew, it was a lot! But as alone as Wendell is in his cry for a return to respect for bodily labor that is done lovingly and well, the idea has really started to transform me. I'm the quintessential millennial knowledge worker (I even work for a company that consults specifically in the knowledge industry) but I'm trying to slooooow down and focus on doing lovelier work, more slowly, as a way to resist optimization in other areas of my life. For example: gardening or baking bread; I want to give up simply because of the mess it makes! But cleaning up the mess is part of doing the work with my hands well, appreciating not just the outcome but the process. It changes me inside. I can really relate to your line saying "the absence of bodily wisdom creates a compensatory kind of intellectual overdrive." Thank you for sharing all of your thoughts!
Hi Catie. Thank you so much for reading and commenting -- it's quite exciting to connect with (a few) people this way. Did I read you're a Pacific Northwesterner? I am too :). And yes to slowing down, anti-optimizing and bread of course! I'm a life-long striver in all of this and I think my sadness arises from the fact that we're not living in communities that naturally support these kinds of rhythms and pleasures. So I read Wendell. A lot! And write from time to time. I invite you check out some of my older posts, which you might relate to as well. There are so few urbanists who seem down for all this. Thank you again.
I was born and raised outside of Portland, but now live in Helena, MT - it was quite the culture shock when I first moved from Oregon to Montana 8 years ago, but now I wouldn't trade it for anything. There's an interesting tension here between very rural roots and an increasingly urbanized culture, especially with how many people have moved here in the past few years. (Similar to how Oregon/Washington were several decades ago.) Anyway, I'm only a year or so into my journey with Wendell and he came along for me at just the right time. I'll definitely peruse some of your older writing! I'm happy to have connected here!