"A change of heart or of values without a practice is only another pointless luxury of a passively consumptive way of life."
Wendell Berry
friendship as a mode of spiritual formation | instigating one another from alongside to follow Jesus
Ignore the expiration date
- Scott
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3 comments:
This [personal] maxim is the product of a very reasonable and critical (using the word "pointless") thinker. I've heard this principle put many ways, and it's pretty good advice...in some contexts and to some extent. However, it leaves no room for inspiration or contact with a source of truth and inspiration.
I’ve re-read your comment a half dozen times, ATW, wanting to make sure I get where you’re coming from. I think I’m there now.
If your take on Wendell Berry’s intent is correct, then your critique is certainly fair enough. I can’t speak definitely on his behalf, but I heard it more as an echo of James 2:26.
“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
Really, things that last rarely happen over night; and so much good can come from good practice(s). In the context of the James scripture, he's dead on. But one of the great luxuries of [my] life is exploring the source of the inspiration that has caused a change of heart or values. It feels to me Berry finds no use for that. There are times to just let the change happen in its own way and at its own pace rather than controlling it through practice.
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