Beyond Control
Control is a modern virtue. The self-help gurus promise to help us be in “control of our lives” and “control of our destiny.” “Control” has become an object of our desire and so a tool of control of the many companies that profit from our wants. Watch one commercial break on television and I would be surprised if you don’t hear the word “control” at least once.
On my farm I can manage, but not control. The system is too complex—animals have minds of their own; weather does what it pleases; surprise is always waiting around the corner. I can try to plan, to head off a problem, but new things always come up and have to be managed.
This is not a comfortable position. I, like everyone else, would like to control things. It is a part of human nature. But control as a virtue is a new thing. In the past, coming out of an agrarian tradition that was trained in the impossibility of control, the virtue to be adopted was humility. The word humility was derived from the word humus—earth, soil. It means literally: “being close to the earth.”
Friday I had a pig give birth to twelve piglets. She had been bred too late in the season, I would normally like my sows to farrow (give birth) in the fall or the spring when the threat of cold is not a problem. But this sow gave birth in January and it was beyond my control. Now I am left to manage the situation, to make sure her young keep warm and have shelter. I am sure that these young pigs will be alright. They are healthy and it is forecasted to be warm here for the next few weeks. I would never have chosen to have this situation, but I will manage.
This birth is a reminder of my own limits, my own failures. It is grounding and humbling.
With this experience and the many that came before it I have had many lessons in humility. It is a hard virtue to learn and I am only in the kindergarten of this education.
But in being faced with the necessity of humility I am glad to be reminded that I am not in control. Humility, along with frugality (the conservation of resources), is one of the most important virtues for anyone who would hope to be an environmentalist. The point of environmentalism or conservationism is, after all, to be close to the earth.
We can celebrate then the loss of control in our lives and turn to the task of humble management. With this we will be closer to the earth that is beyond our mastery and in a better place to care for it.
Ragan Sutterfield is a writer and farmer living in the mountains of central Arkansas. After earning a degree in philosophy Ragan spent some time working in Chicago, but decided that he'd rather be back in the rural Arkansas of his childhood. After two years apprenticing with an organic sheep farmer Ragan set out to start his own farm, called Adama Farm (‘Adama’ is the Hebrew word for ‘soil.’) He raises sheep, cattle, chickens, and a very rare breed of pig called the Gloucestershire Old Spot Pig. In all aspects of his farm he tries to use sustainable practices and he experiments constantly with finding better ways to farm at nature's pace.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.plentymag.com/blog-mt1/mt-tb.cgi/969
Comments
this is at once an astonishing lesson in reminding us that we are not truely in control of much on this earth, and telling me that when we say "ill manage", it usualy means some thing less than promising (controlling) results and mostly a very scary situation. id not gone to college and thus, never studied latin , greek or hebrew.my pastor uses greek and hebrew a lot in sermons to explain things. id never known til this story that by being humble, im trying to be close to the earth. im used to the Biblcal definition. im deeply appreciative of this article!
some how it brings to mind a magazine (forget which magazine at the moment) interview with movie star bruce willis. he seems to be very grounded. he's bald and says that all the hair restoration treatments are so much "balderdash" (bruce used a cuss word). he says they're all there just to make money. he says he has nice clothes but seldom wears them. he says he's worn the same uniform since age 19: jeans, workboots ,t-shirt.
Mr. Sutterfield, i'm a suburanite, some what a city dweller though ive never actually lived in what i call a city; Chicago, San Fransico. my hat's off to you entirely for a year running!:)
Posted by:Tommy Horner |January 10, 2007 10:56 AM