I don’t know what your struggles are these days, but currently, mine are centered around the question, “What does meaningful vocation and ministry look like in this season?” That’s why the quote above grabbed my attention.
For those who may not be familiar with Wendell Berry, he’s an American novelist, poet, philosopher, environmental activist, and farmer.[1] At 90-years-old, he’s published “more than eighty books of poetry, fiction, essays, and criticism, but he’s perhaps best known for ‘The Unsettling of America,’ a book-length polemic, from 1977, which argues that responsible, small-scale agriculture is essential to the preservation of the land and the culture.”[2] Writing in the tradition of Thoreau or John Muir, I found him less narcissistic than Thoreau, especially in his strong emphasis on the importance of community.
Returning to Berry’s provocative statement, when I first saw it on FaceBook, I wondered how it might apply to my present challenges. In pursuit of more context, I did a simple Google search, and here’s what I found:
“There are, it seems, two Muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say, ‘It is yet more difficult that you thought.’ This is the muse of form…It may be… that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work and that when we no longer know which way to go we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”[3]
Although Berry’s insights here are worthy of reflection on their own, I wanted to get a better handle on exactly what he meant by form and so I decided to do two things. First, I made a list of the things that are “more difficult” than I thought. Here are a few from that list:
- To get people to care
- To get people’s attention
- To exercise and bring my aging body along
- To wake up with fire and energy to do what’s important and in my hand
- To find financially sustainable and meaningful work- the kind that leads to growth and innovation
Second, I ordered and read his full essay “Poetry and Marriage” from which the quotes above are taken. Here’s more of how he defines form:
- “Form is the means by which error is recognized and the means by which correctness is recognized.” (96)
- “The necessity to ‘stay for a while’ is the essence of form.” (98)
- “These halts and difficulties [associated with form] do not ask for immediate remedy; we fail them by making emergencies of them. They ask, rather, for patience, forbearance, inspiration—the gifts and graces of time, circumstance, and faith.” (97)
- “Marriage and poetry are set forms—that is, forms that in a sense precede the content, that are in a sense prescriptive.” (103)
- “It is the willingness to hear the second muse [form] that keeps us cheerful in our work. To hear only the first is to live in bitterness and disappointment.” (96)
- “It may be, then, that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction to baffle us and deflect our intended course.” (97)
Although Berry focuses mostly on the forms of marriage and poetry in his essay, I found his observations apply to any desire we need to bring discipline to, as well those we’re wrestling with or waiting on. The former might be things like diet, exercise, cultivating a particular skill, writing, sexual expression and restraint, etc. Examples of the latter might include the final form of a good book or poem, a seasoned and healthy marriage, or even the answers that emerge to my opening question about meaningful vocation and ministry.
As Berry says above, form tends to be prescriptive and take a long view of things. And, it’s something beyond mere duty and stoicism as, in Berry’s view, grace, faith, and joy are in the mix.
As a Christian, I certainly resonate with and am grateful for that. And, as you and I continue to wrestle with what forms are best paired with our inspiration and desires, I pray that God would help us cherish each moment even in the midst of our difficulties. Here’s a great song from one of my favorite artists that helps me do just that.
[1] wikipedia.org
[2] https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/going-home-with-wendell-berry
[3] Wendell Berry, Standing by Words (Berkely, CA: Counterpoint, 1983), 96-97.