Wendell Berry: The Meaning of Satisfaction

Satisfaction means happiness, joy, relief, and comfort. "Satisfaction rises out of the flow of time," says Wendell Berry. Satisfaction, according to Wendell Berry, originates from "materials and lives of this world, from the mutual dependence of creatures upon one another, from fellow feeling." Wendell Berry thus thinks human contact; feeling and fellow feeling should give people satisfaction. Also being free of push buttons gives people satisfaction.

I agree with Berry's Idea about how satisfaction rises out of the flow of time. As an artist, I know I get closer to achieving satisfaction through treacherous hours of drawing, then reaching the final product. I never feel remotely satisfied about any of my work until I know I have minimally worked long and hard. I never just spend a minute or two and find myself being satisfied. I feel completely satisfied when other people view my work and tell me how much they appreciate the beauty of the piece. Or how interesting they find the piece of art.

"The only living creatures, or the only ones on view, are humans, and humans are rigidly isolated from one another," says Wendell Berry. Obviously one cannot feel satisfied if in isolation according to Wendell Berry. If one has no friends or never goes out, then they feel left out of life and feel unhappy. Thus, you need human contact, or minimally contact with living things. Getting along with people can give someone great satisfaction. After all, people consider humans as social beings. I know some people of which despise social events and society. Some people living on earth, feel completely opposite of what Wendell Berry has written.

I feel somewhat the same way, but do not agree entirely with him. I know at times, I want to feel lonely and isolated. I hate constantly talking to people, especially the type of people of which will talk to anyone, including them selves. I find these types of people more annoying than making me feel satisfied. I feel satisfied when I talk to someone who feels the same way I do about a subject, or have similar interests. The types of people who willingly talk to anyone seem extremely pathetic and lonely to me. They probably lead quite unsatisfactory lives.

Feeling and fellow feeling give people satisfaction. Getting along with people and the desire to do something can give someone great joyous satisfaction. Satisfaction can come from the dependence of other animals on you. If you have pets, you know of which they rely on you and you feel satisfied knowing they have a great home. A farmer feeding his cows daily most certainly feels satisfied. A woman caring for her pet rabbit makes her satisfied. A person who takes care of injured animals at an animal shelter feels satisfied. "You feed and care for them out of fellow feeling, because you want to," says Wendell Berry.

When your life becomes all about pushing buttons, you have no sense of satisfaction. Anyone can push buttons, but pushing buttons deteriorates the meaning of your life. You should take pride in what you do and in turn, you guarantee your satisfaction. I consider pride and satisfaction interchangeable. They essentially relate to one another. Having pride gives satisfaction. And vice versa, satisfaction means you have a sense of pride. With a push button free world you obtain real satisfaction, according to Wendell Berry. "Satisfaction is real. We can only have it from each other and not from other creatures. It is not available from any machine," says Wendell Berry.

Machines can take away the richness of our lives under certain circumstances, but also, machines can enhance our levels of satisfaction. I disagree with Wendell Berry's perspective on machines and satisfaction. Most certainly a person can find satisfaction through almost any machine. For example, a child in a local grocery store gets satisfaction out of a gumball machine. Other examples include computers, airplanes, cars, refrigerators and so forth. These all provide satisfaction to some extent. Computers help people produce documents, while airplanes allow people to see the world, cars let people arrive at destinations faster than walking, and refrigerators preserve our food.

I both agree and disagree with Wendell Berry, but address each instance and present my views along with his. One can achieve satisfaction, as I believe, under any circumstance. Wendell Berry says satisfaction comes from only certain things. I presented my ideas contrasted to his with counter-examples and elaboration thereof.

Source: Wendell Berry.