Inexplicable, but common

Wendell Berry writes in Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community:

“The miraculous is not extraordinary, but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the lilies of the field or the birds of the air, and pondered the improbability of their existence in this warm world within the cold and empty stellar distances, will hardly balk at the turning of water into wine – which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.”

2330B1C1-BDB2-4182-B4FD-848BC26B6DE5

A constant challenge to remember that the commonplace is only so because we’re habituated to it. But we did not create ourselves, and nothing in this universe explains the reason for its being.

Discover more from Tom Shakely

Subscribe (free or paid) to keep reading and get full access.

Continue Reading