The philosophical and moral basis for picking up
garbage
Care of the Soul - A Guide for
Cultivating Depth and
Sacredness in Everyday Life
by Thomas Moore
pp. 273 - 276
"In the idea of 'anima mundi' there is no
separation between our soul and the world soul. If the world is
neurotic, we will share in that disorder. . ."
"The question Sardello asks, in the
spirit of 'anima mundi', is a challenging one: Is the cancer that
afflicts our human bodies essentially the same as the cancer we see
corroding our cities? Is our personal health and the health of the
world one and the same?" . . .
"Care of the soul requires that we have
an eye and an ear for the world's suffering. In many American
cities, streets and open spaces are littered with abandoned refuse
-- old tires, appliances, furniture, paper, garbage, rusty
automobiles. Houses are boarded up, windows are smashed, wood is
rotting, weeds have grown wild. We behold such a scene and think,
the solution is to solve the problem of poverty. But why not feel
for the things themselves. We are seeing things in a suffering
condition -- sick, broken, and dying. This disease before us is our
failure in relation to the world. What is it in us that can allow
the things of the world to become so distressed and to show so many
symptoms without a nursing response from us? What are we doing when
we treat things so badly?" . . .
"We pretend to make things that will last
forever, but we know that everything has a definite lifespan. I
wonder if the trash that litters our cities and even the
countryside isn't part of our attempts to outsmart death. We don't
want things to die, and we are angry at them if they do -- if they
no longer function. In our anger, we don't give them a decent
burial. Yet their presence is a literal, inescapable reminder of
decay. We don't honor the past, and so it presents itself with the
face of our own anger, without human form and imagination. We fail
to remember the days before us, and so the things of those days lie
cluttering our city streets. Jackson points out that a monument is
etymologically a "reminder." Our trash is a reminder -- not yet
healed by imagination -- of the past we have
neglected.
* * *
Tikkun Olam
(adapted from Wikipedia.org)
Tikkun Olam is a Hebrew phrase which
translates as "repair the universe" or "heal the
universe".
Kabbalists (people who adhere to the
teachings of Kabbalah) hold that the very creation of the universe
by God was unstable, and that the early universe could not hold the
holy light of God. In this view, the original form of the universe
shattered in shards; the universe that we see today is literally
broken, and in need of repair. Many Jews (not just Kabbalists) hold
that it is therefore imperative to transform the world through
social action - a general belief that the world we live in is
imperfect, but that everyone can make things better ('repair it')
by doing good deeds. [I argue strongly that this means
picking up garbage: GC]
Thank you Charles A.
* * *
Georges Clyman
Ancient Taoist masters would argue that
garbage confuses the life-force (Qi) of the natural world. Garbage,
being thrown away at random, creates a random disruption of the
natural world. Because this natural energy also helps humans,
people are at direct risk from their own litter. The natural world
prefers garbage to be concentrated into single areas, and until
recent history, humans have oblidged. Archeological dig sites
typically display patterns of concentrated garbage, suggesting that
ancient peoples understood the importance of keeping garbage in a
few designated places. However, in modern times this practice has
broken down, thanks largely to the fact that we use so much
plastic. Because it's so light, plastic often escapes from garbage
piles and the wind blows it around for miles. Random
garbage.
* * *
The Power of Intention - Learning to Co-create Your World Your
Way
by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
pp. 78
"Pick up some litter and place it in a
proper receptacle and tell no one about your actions. In fact,
spend several hours doing nothing but cleaning and clearing out
messes that you didn't create. Any act of kindness extended toward
yourself, others, or your environment matches you up with the
kindness inherent in the universal power of intention. It's an
energizer for you, and causes this kind of energy to flow back to
your life."
* * *
Shakti Gawain
"When we finally give up the struggle to find
fulfillment outside of ourselves, we have nowhere
to go but within. It is at this moment of total surrender that the
light begins to dawn. We expect to hit bottom, but
instead we fall through a trap door into a bright new
world. We have rediscovered the world of our
spirit."
* * *
"Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese practice of placement
and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with the environment
that has its origins from Taoism. The practice is estimated to be
more than three thousand years old. . .
The Black Hat Sect school of Feng Shui,
which began in the 1960s, heavily influenced by the New Age
movement, explains Feng Shui as the arrangement of objects within a
home to obtain an optimum flow of qi." Feng Shui - (adapted from Wikipedia.org)
"Sometimes common sense tells you that your
living space is not harmonious. If you want to know more about how
spatial layouts affect different areas of your life, there are now
many good books on the ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui. Many
Wsterners are now using feng shui to situate their new homes in
harmonious relationship to the natural surroundings, as well as to
create a better energy flow inside their homes and offices. Believe
it or not, this system proves to be extremely useful in clearing up
blocks to your career, fame, health, creativity, and
abundance!"
The Purpose of Your Life - Finding Your Place in the World
Using Synchronicity, Intuition, and Uncommon Sense by Carol
Adrienne pp. 179
[If Feng Shui recognizes the energy dynamics
inside your home and your home's relationship to its surroundings
there is certainly a basis to believe that random garbage also
interacts with the natural energy systems of the planet. If you
need any more motivation consider picking up garbage to be an
ancient art of litter arrangement. GC]
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