I was looking at the mess in my kitchen this morning, and thinking “well, it will be gone in 20 minutes”. The battle for order is a daily one.
Then it popped in my head that we interact with our objects with pride and anger, and I got thinking about it. Do we not all have things we own we are proud of? I really like my gun. I don’t obsess about it, but it is a well engineered tool, and I’m glad I own it.
And when you look at, say, your car, you might be proud of it, or mad at it for being so old, or small, or whatever.
This, in turn, got me to thinking about what a PROPER relationship might be. I don’t think pride is necessarily a useful emotion, except to the extent it keeps you on the straight and narrow, and I think that would be better defined as self respect. Nor is anger, in general, a useful emotion, especially at objects which you control, and which have done nothing to you. They are just there. Any emotive content is a projection from you.
It seems to me a proper relationship is pleasure in presence. If you live a dirt-floored hut, you can still sweep the floor and keep it neat, and you can be happy in that. You can interact with all you own with contentment and enjoyment. You can enjoy cleaning.
This led to the thought that that is not a bad way to think of interacting with people. Pleasure in presence. Finding what is worthwhile and enjoyable in them, and directing your attention to that. Most everyone has something worthwhile.
The Hindus use as their greeting Namaste, which literally means “I bow to you”. You are not bowing to the person, per se, but rather to the spirit of God which is in every person. This is, I think, a worthy idea.
Musings for the AM.