“How can he become wise who handles the plough?
…each becomes wise through his work.”
Sirach
Ben Sira and Aristotle are of one mind regarding the scribe’s pursuit of wisdom. “The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure; and he who has little business may become wise.” (Sirach 38:34) Wisdom in the normal and proper sense comes in the pursuit of higher knowledge, a pursuit that demands both setting one’s heart on higher things and freedom from mundane pursuits.
But the worker of the land “sets his heart on ploughing furrows, and he is careful about fodder for the heifers.” “So too is every craftsman and master workman who labors by night as well as by day…” Ben Sira points to what is both the manual craftsman’s challenge and his path to fulfillment.
Going through a variety of types of craftsmen, Ben Sira uses evocative language to convey the depth of their commitment to their work.
“Each is diligent in making a great variety.”
“He sets his heart… and he is careful to finish his work.”
“… intent on his handiwork…”
“He inclines his ear to the sound of the hammer, and his eyes are on the pattern of his object.”
“He sets his heart on finishing his handiwork, and he is careful to complete its decoration.”
“He is always deeply concerned over his work…”
“…and he is careful to clean…”
Clearly, Ben Sira knew real tradesmen. And without condescension, he honored them. He saw their essential place in the great order of the cosmos. “Without them a city cannot be established, and men can neither sojourn nor live there.” Without manual laborers there is no human life.
It is not just that we need the products of their work. We need them. We need them to be a certain kind of person, living as Belloc wrote of peasants by the “continual labor of their lives.” They, and not just their products, are irreplaceable.
To be such craftsmen they must set aside, to some real extent, the systematic pursuit of wisdom—which is the work of the ‘scribe.’ Thus, a certain wisdom they will not attain: “They are not sought out for the council of the people, nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly.”
But their path can have precious fruits. Ben Sira has something to offer here that transcends anything explicit in the thought of Aristotle. Ben Sira’s words imply a call to manual workers. What they do is bound up with higher things, and they should act that way. They should live and work by the highest standards because this is what they owe: to themselves, to others, and to God. They are not just ‘making a living.’ They are contributing to the order of the cosmos by their excellence in service.
As they attend to the many human things that need attending, they can become wise in their own way. Like the scribes, they can play their part in the cosmos, and receive that part with gratitude and enact it with generosity. And by their fidelity in this, with excellence and integrity, they receive the gift of any rational creature’s righteous participation in the order of the cosmos. Mysteriously, they grow in the very Wisdom that governs all.
So if the wisdom of the scribe in some sense remains remote for them, they certainly need not be cut off from higher things. Ben Sira concludes his reflection with what is at once praise and admonition to manual workers:
“But they keep stable the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the practice of their trade.”
This post is third in a series on Ruling Our Households Like the Cosmos.
Ruling Our Households Like the Cosmos Mini-Series
I. Ruling Our Households Like the Cosmos
II. A Wife in Her Well-Ordered Home
III: Manual Workers, Wisdom, and Cosmic Order
IV: Three Beautiful Things in the Cosmos
Husband, father, and professor of Philosophy. LifeCraft springs from one conviction: there is an ancient wisdom about how to live the good life in our homes, with our families; and it is worth our time to hearken to it. Let’s rediscover it together. Learn more.
What about Common Sense?
It seems to me that the more we work manually with things outside of ourselves, like with the land or with animals or with craftsmanship, we grow in common sense, and we are humbled by reality. Is common sense akin to prudence, a very real practical application of wisdom? I think part of the problem with society today is a lack of exposure to the real, to nature and the cause and effect experienced within it. Too much virtual reality and not enough reality weakens us physically and mentally. We recently moved to a farm, and desire an immersion in the cause and effect in the natural world for our family. Plants and animals will ground us in the truths of life, and will strengthen our hearts and minds against the deception of wrong thinking.
St. Benedict, Pray for Us!
Thank you Catherine. Good manual labor can indeed be a great seedbed for growing common sense. And yes, common sense is a kind of beginning of prudence/practical wisdom. The fuller growth of prudence calls for an intentional cultivation of common sense and also a maturing of it into something greater. The reason prudence calls for further cultivation is it requires a deeper knowledge of the richness of human goods and how they relate to our ultimate end.
How fitting this meditation on the work of manual workers in the midst of this year in which we venerate Saint Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth. One can only wonder on what influence this dedicated “tekton” passed on to his foster son, Jesus, as He grew into manhood. There is great wisdom in crafting the materials of this world into useful and beautiful objects, using beautifully crafted and useful handtools, I inherited some of the woodworking tools from my father, and I still use them today with great gratitude for the wisdom my father passed along to me. Thank you, Dr. Cuddeback, for this wonderful reflection.
Thank you, Gary. And enjoy those tools!
This article also stirred memories of my father. He was an upholsterer and furniture maker. He spent many long hours working by himself in the workshop he built to support our family of seven. He was meticulous, detailed and produced a beautiful product. His tools were organized and well cared for. His days were well ordered and you knew he was thinking and praying as he worked.
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing this image of your father in his workshop–a workshop in which more went on than simply the fashioning of furniture!
Great post. It helps me see how the affirmation of higher and lower in human pursuits does not imply that the lower is merely the slave of the higher. And how the denial of higher and lower leads to the destruction of both.
Thank you Tony! I appreciate your focusing on a great point that calls for more reflection. There is so much that eludes our immediate grasp in the beautiful reality of hierarchy.
Ploughing furrows or scribbling verses.
The difference is only material.
All their pens will be beaten into ploughshares, and their pencils into pruning hooks.
You inspired me with this article up to this paragraph: “To be such craftsmen they must set aside, to some real extent, the systematic pursuit of wisdom—which is the work of the ‘scribe.’ Thus, a certain wisdom they will not attain: “They are not sought out for the council of the people, nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly.”
As a developer and builder who – at my age – toils less and less in the realm of the “field,” I believe that many of the faults of the money changers and financiers I meet is resident in their lack of empathy and understanding for the work and deep intelligence of tradesfolk. Moreover, most of the people I have met in my life who use their hands for their living are far better educated in literature and the Good Book than the so-called scribes you reference.
One can never adequately judge a book by its cover nor the depth of intelligence of those who don coveralls. Time and hard lessons are another kind of wisdom beyond the arts and sciences alone.
I appreciate what you attempter here. Perhaps I am sensitive that we live in a society that does not respect the trades. Our destroying trade schools back in the 80s is proof enough. We both do agree that we need doers and makers ponder lofty notions for a living. I believe we would all be better off if vastly more financiers and their ilk would learn the way of the plough over the pen.
Nathaniel, I deeply appreciate your comment. I believe that you and I are very close in our thinking. Just a couple of quick clarifications:
First, the ‘scribes’ that I reference are the Jewish scribes referenced by Ben Sira. This is a very important element of the Christian tradition too. There are some who are called especially to the vocation of pursuing higher wisdom by a life of systematic study, personal discipline, and prayer. These are able to achieve something unique, which grounds their unique and important vocation in service of others, especially by sharing the fruits of their contemplation with others. This is why, speaking of the craftsmen, I write that “a certain wisdom they will not attain.” The ‘certain wisdom’ refers to this wisdom of the scribes, the fruit of a life committed fundamentally to the systematic pursuit of wisdom
Second, this does not mean, as I try to note in the post, that craftsmen do not attain a real wisdom! Indeed, as you well note, the money changers and financiers often do not grow in wisdom as can and do these tradesmen. (Such powerful people in our society are certainly not the ‘scribes’ to which I refer.)
You and I together bemoan the passing of something great, and we look to do all that we can to restore such crafts and such wisdom. Thank you again.