Let Beings Be

Through the analysis of News from Nowhere, the present paper deals with William Morris's ecological perspectives. Morris's ecological views can best be summarized by the statement "let beings be", which means that non-meddlesome management is the best management. The theme is to live a better life. He believed that only the perspectives that would lead to a better life to human beings would find themselves feasible. However, the better life in his opinion was far more than material abundance, although it was one of the most important aspects and he meant an artistic and poetic life in which human beings cherished every detail that they had taken for granted for so long. In this book, Morris's ideal world is full of humanistic spirit, but not humanitarian or anthropocentric. On the other hand, he submitted a variety of meaningful ecological perspectives that were completely fresh in politics, economics, education and social life. In the political fields, he presented anarchism, neither any formal government to manage the public affairs nor any form of politics, prison or police, and the whole community enjoys complete freedom. Let social affairs be, with the guidance of social elite. In the economic fields, Morris accented happy labor, and the whole community could choose to do what they like to. They spontaneously form a workshop to create things that really give themselves pleasure, and each is in his proper place at his own will, for they no longer have to do any mechanical labor against their own will, letting human labor be both physically and mentally. In the educational fields, he emphasized that learning from Nature and history would be far more important than the traditional mechanical school education. Let human minds follow their own nature, and he believed that by visiting the museum and learning in forests, human beings would be more likely to return to their real nature. In secular life, he advocated that human beings should be sensitive to every detail of daily life. He was against competition, and "Let beings be" implies that human beings are not forced to compete with each other. In a word, Morris showed us a totally free world without any restriction or regulation. However, his ecological perspectives are not perfect, for complete freedom is likely to result in many serious ecological problems. For example, in such an abundant community, was the waste of natural resources unavoidable? Or was the indulgence of love more likely to cause population explosion? Or is it possible that the creative labor would be exhausted?...