1. There is a relational crisis in America.
America is in bad shape when it comes to human relationships. That is the presupposition underlying this post, and it comes from my own observation, reading, and talking with others who care deeply about understanding their distinct identity as Americans. Since this is a presupposition, I won’t take time here to articulate or to defend it, but I will summarize it with another insight from Allan Bloom.
Bloom explains that the fathers of modern thought replaced the virtuous man with the rational and productive man. In their movement away from religion and toward reason, away from duty and toward rights, they produced systems of thought that undermine traditional virtues. Virtue, of course, pertains directly to how human beings relate to one another; but reason and rationality direct a person inward. Thus, if America is best understood as a product of modernity (or an Enlightenment experiment, as some writers say), it makes sense that the groundwork for an individualistic, anti-relational society is set more firmly here than anywhere else in the world.
Over the course of the nation’s history, this individualism has fed itself and worked itself into our way of life more deeply than we can understand. The layouts of our housing developments, the way we introduce ourselves in conversation, the structure of our institutions, the language we use in politics and public discourse, the communication and media technology we develop—these things help to form the giant lens of modern, individualistic, rights-based thought through which Americans view the experience of human existence. Just like a contact lens, it affects everything we see, but we do not see the lens itself. One area in particular that diminishes people’s capacity for healthy relationships is the American workplace.
2. Our practice and understanding of work fuels an anti-relational lifestyle.
The workplace is more than simply the place where work is done. It is also a place where people receive instruction through their routines about the nature of life. What they learn depends on what kind of work they do. In a society based on information, industry, and consumer markets, the work environment is centered on principles that are contrary to both the natural order and the desire for relationship ingrained in human nature. For example, the unwritten code that governs the activity and rhythms most people experience at their job includes the following:
1). Waiting for a desired result is bad because it means we do not have control.
2). Success requires a network of people passing information quickly through communication technologies.
3). Results must be measured and recorded in order to validate the activity of the worker.
4). The primary judge of the worth of labor is the dollar.
5). Work and leisure are opposites and exist in separate spheres.
If a person used these concepts as a guide for how to relate to other human beings, he would quickly find himself in depressing and self-induced isolation. A healthy relationship, and by this I mean a relationship defined and guided by love, requires a grounding in principles opposite to those listed above. In parenthood, for example, a person must learn that they will never have complete control over their child’s development. They must wait for certain qualities or skills to form in their child, and the waiting is good because it teaches parents to love without condition. In marriage, a couple must learn that success requires a simple, direct, and intimate connection between human beings, and that their labor is worthwhile even though they may never be rewarded for it or see its result. Friendship also provides an avenue for a person to learn these lessons, all of which are doomed if relationships are understood as things that exist in the realm of leisure as opposed to the realm of work.
3. The kind of work characterized by the craft movement offers lessons that coincide with, rather than work against, the qualities needed for healthy human relationships.
The three projects I am currently engaged in are brewing beer, growing vegetables, and refinishing a rocking chair. I am an amateur in all areas, and two of the three endeavors have a high chance of failing miserably right now. Nonetheless, I am learning things, most importantly the relevance of the tasks themselves. What is the value of doing things by hand that do not have to be done that way? For many, the point is basically to feel cool and to impress other urban people with their old-fashioned knowledge. But there is a deeper and more genuine meaning as well. Working with natural things in a manner that requires knowledge about how those things work has better capacity to teach a person about the nature of life than doing work that is centered on information. This assertion, of course, hinges on the belief that there is an essential unity between the physical and spiritual spheres and that you can learn about the latter by observing the former. Many teachings in the Christian scriptures (and others as well, but I draw from this because it is my own background) re-enforce this unity as they draw examples from agriculture and nature to illustrate spiritual truth.
Here are some examples from my own crafty experiences about how this unity manifests itself. Brewing beer teaches that impatience results in loss. Tending a garden teaches that growth and success require elements beyond human control. Refinishing a chair teaches that labor and leisure can be one in the same. All three activities remind me that beauty cannot come about without sacrifice. These principles coincide with and nurture qualities required for healthy human relationships instead of contradicting and attacking those qualities. Unlike the principles that govern much of the work done in isolation from the natural realm, they could be carried over into the sphere of marriage, parenthood, and friendship without jeopardizing those relationships.
To close, I am not merely offering these ideas to say that everyone should brew beer, grow vegetables, and refinish rocking chairs. Nor am I asserting that every person who works with natural things is a healthier and more relational human being than her office-bound counterpart. I do hope to show that the patterns of thought and actions we engage in, particularly in our work environment because we spend so much time at work, contribute greatly to our formation as people. My generation’s interest in natural work suggests that we are drawn not only to the work itself, but to the lessons the work has to teach us. We have not learned these lessons in our families or our information-centered work places, but we believe the lessons are there and that they have something important to tell us about human existence.
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