Wow, that says it all huh? Very insightful and something we all suffer over.
I had a zen monk tell me once, "You aren't who you think you are." and it wasn't the usual "Yeah you aren't so hot" or "yeah you ARE GREAT" or anything like that. It was that no matter how much I THOUGHT about it I could not be who I am by thinking about it.
When we infuse things with meaning beyond mere usefulness we need give them places of prominance in our homes. I think that is the best way to avoid mere hoarding or heaping or cluttering up. There can only be so many places of prominance. Still, making a box for letters, or displaying items with purpose can be useful.
I have a ceramic lawn Knome Buddha bought at a garden store that sits in my Butsudan (in this case a shelf with wheels where I burn incense). I know I am not "bowing to Buddha" or to the lawn knome but to my conscious effort to wake up as a human being. I make room for it in my office because it reflects my practice but it is not my practice, it will never be my practice.
When I remember I remember in the here and now, even what I would rather forget.
At one point I needed to talk to someone about my grief and galling loss. It helped. The important thing, for me, was to allow for it, to not bury myself or hide in the refuse. I didn't think it would help me but it did.
no subject
Wow, that says it all huh? Very insightful and something we all suffer over.
I had a zen monk tell me once, "You aren't who you think you are." and it wasn't the usual "Yeah you aren't so hot" or "yeah you ARE GREAT" or anything like that. It was that no matter how much I THOUGHT about it I could not be who I am by thinking about it.
When we infuse things with meaning beyond mere usefulness we need give them places of prominance in our homes. I think that is the best way to avoid mere hoarding or heaping or cluttering up. There can only be so many places of prominance. Still, making a box for letters, or displaying items with purpose can be useful.
I have a ceramic lawn Knome Buddha bought at a garden store that sits in my Butsudan (in this case a shelf with wheels where I burn incense). I know I am not "bowing to Buddha" or to the lawn knome but to my conscious effort to wake up as a human being. I make room for it in my office because it reflects my practice but it is not my practice, it will never be my practice.
When I remember I remember in the here and now, even what I would rather forget.
At one point I needed to talk to someone about my grief and galling loss. It helped. The important thing, for me, was to allow for it, to not bury myself or hide in the refuse. I didn't think it would help me but it did.