“To
cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity”, this is a quote from
an excerpt from Annie Dillards Pilgrim
at Tinker Creek. I
find it to be very odd, and it really took me a while to try and
decipher what I thought it meant when you read between the lines. I
believe that what she’s saying is that you should strive to
live/create a life that is not to wealthy monetarily that you lose
sight of what is really important in life, but yet not to poor of a
life either. That you should try and live a life that’s full enough
that you don’t feel need, but yet aren’t living in either
monetary, or yet, more importantly spiritual poverty. Annie talks
about “seeing” in the excerpt and it seems to be something that
to her is very important. I think that she’s talking about going
beyond just seeing what is right in front of you, but rather seeing
what something means to you. To see life for the beautiful thing that
it is, and to not take life and the things in it for granted. As
Dillard says, “There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and
free surprises.” I feel that she’s saying that the world is what
you make it, and to quote her again, “What you see is what you
get.” My Great-Grandma will be 97 this year, and I cannot think of
anyone in my life that embodies this ideal more than her. She lives a
simple full life, and doesn’t need much more than her basic
necessities and the love of her family around her. Small things that
I’d never notice give her an enjoyment that I don’t think I could
ever understand. And I believe it’s because she knows how to see
past the face value of what’s right in front of her, and to really
see what something is worth. She knows that everything, depending on
the light in which you chose to look at it, can be a gift. Even
before reading this small excerpt, I’ve never felt an absolute need
to have anything more then what’s absolutely necessary, and to
appreciate the things that I have. Now that’s not to say that I
don’t have wants and desires, but because of my Great-Grandma I
know that things are more than just material objects, but that they
hold meaning and are important for more than just their monetary
worth.
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteI think you've gotten the essence of what Annie Dillard is saying. The idea is that you should never get to the point that you don't see value in even in the smallest things. I still pick up pennies in parking lots, even though other people throw them away, for example.
The thing I like about Dillard is that this quotation is a kind of frame for her whole approach to life so that a concept about something a small as a penny can be extended to pretty much anything; I find it especially valuable when applied to our relationships with people, and I am glad that you brought up your Great-Grandma to illustrate that. I have felt the same way with my grandpa, who has been dead for 14 years. He always made me feel valuable; he made all of his grandchildren feel that same way. To him, we were priceless, and we always knew it.
Thank you for post. Good work.