Deep Time

Poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic and farmer, Wendell Berry, died on August 31, 2026, at age 92.  While he lived a simple rural life in Henry County, Kentucky, his thinking was urban and forward-thinking about the future. Along with his collaborator, his wife Tanya, he championed environmental caretaking. Nature metaphors underpinned much of his writing. Here is Berry’s poem, Real Work:

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.                                                                                                    

The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

In America we need more environment role models like Wendell Berry. We need to pay attention to esteemed First Nation people who consider the indigenous philosophy of 7 Generations Ahead. Oral history of the Iroquois or League of Six Nations date the philosophy’s origin to a timeframe between 1142 and 1500. Chiefs handed down this “Great Law of Peace” with the staunch belief that one must look past one’s own sands of time to ensure future generations’ wellbeing.

Western time considers a short range of time for a “generation” – from 15-30 years; many First Nation people view a generation as spanning 100 years. There is an interconnected responsibility of ancestor-grandparent-parent-child, a melding of past-present-future thinking, that often escapes our lawmakers today. Anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson captures the U.S. predicament: “The great irony of our time is that even as we are living longer, we are thinking shorter.”

 Described as a social philosopher, Australian-born Roman Krznaric writes on empathy and regaining carpe diem. To “seize the day” has just as much relevance today as when the phrase first appeared in Roman poet Horace’s book of poems, Odes, in 23 BCE. Krznaric’s 2020 book, The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-term Thinking, suggests that our species suffers from “an acute crisis of perspective.” He sees today’s human as having a “funneled focus on the present” to the detriment of embracing “deep time.” Writer John McPhee coined the term in 1980 to contrast normal life spans with the slow-moving geohistory of Earth.

Other countries, notably Finland’s Committee for the Future, have proactive approaches to address the collective wellbeing for the future. Long-term governance also exits in the UK, the Netherlands, Uruguay, Chile, and South Korea. Finland promotes future-linked skills and competencies as part of schooling for children. The U.S. federal government does not have such dedicated educational goals; in fact, the current administration plan is to dismantle the Department of Education.

Let’s learn from the Māori people of Australia. Māori lawyer and children-rights champion Julia Waipooti relates, “We are all grandchildren and we are all ancestors.”

Let’s read Wendell Berry’s Real Work poem to politicians. Would they understand it?

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

532. What are your views on a federal “Committee for the Future?”

533. How often do you think about 7 Generations Ahead?