<p>"What makes shit such a universal joke is that it's an unmistakable reminder of our duality, of our soiled nature and of our will to glory. It is the ultimate lèse-majesté".<br>John Berger's essay begins by describing the experience of burying a year's worth of his household's excrement. What follows is an extended reflection?at once philosophically detached and profoundly engaged with the inescapable stuff of life?on shit as an emblem of what...