The Morning Inspection
On lightness and darkness of being
I’ve heard people say now and then that instead of cursing the
darkness one should light a lamp. Makes a lot of sense when you take it
metaphorically. There’s little to gain by bitching about ignorance,
especially if one is reluctant to explore whatever avenues are available
for knowledge acquisition. We don’t have the moral authority to complain
about what’s missing if we are not ready to use whatever is available.
We can’t talk about rights if we are irresponsible.
When you take the line literally, it is not so easy. Sure, almost
everyone can afford a candle, oil and wick for a pahana, the clay lamp
one lights at temples or even a kerosene oil lamp. Perhaps this is
adequate, perhaps not, depending on lifestyle preference, habit and
perceptions of what’s important in life.
On the other hand, many of us do go overboard. We just can’t have
enough of a good thing; we seek and obtain more than we need and end up
hurting ourselves. And then we complain. About bills. The soaring cost
of living. Things like that.
Energy saving methods
We can demand that the cost of electricity be lowered. We can bring
down governments hoping that replacements would lower the cost of
living. All legitimate and in certain cases justified as well. We can
also do the little things.
Power and Energy Ministry has come up with a neat booklet which is
given to each consumer at the point of monthly payment. It gives in
simple language various energy saving methods. This is not the first
call for energy conservation. Moreover, conservation is just one element
of the discourse about energy.
Still, if we take the line about darkness and candles seriously, we
might actually stop whining about the high cost of living and doing the
little things that help us cope with the situation.
We must not forget that just as we can refuse to light a candle and
continue to curse the darkness, we can continue to curse the glare
without turning off unnecessary lights.
Of all the advertisements seeking to encourage the citizens to
conserve energy, the most effective was one where the recipient of the
communication was asked to turn off a switch right then and there. At
any given moment, particularly after twilight, you are likely to
discover that there’s at least one unnecessary light burning wherever
you are.
The principle can be applied to all kinds of things, not just power
usage but usage in general.
In other words the adage ‘don’t curse the light; light a candle’ can
be flipped to good use. A few simple exercises would help figure out how
and where wastage occurs.
Jot down each purchase made along with amount spent. Do this
everyday. Add up your daily expenses. After a week, sit down with a
pencil for half and hour and cross off what you feel were things you
could have done without or pencil in cheaper alternatives that would
have served the relevant purpose just as well.
Enjoy silence
Look around you. Make an inventory of all things big and small.
Cross-off all things you’ve not used in a long time and things you can
very well do without. I am sure you’ll be surprised by how little you
really need.
I am not recommending renunciation across the board, but an
un-cluttering of living room which, I believe, helps un-clutter the
mind.
Some months ago I wrote about light pollution. Those living in highly
urbanized areas rarely get to enjoy silence. Or darkness. As a result
they miss the poetry of silhouette, the play of half-light on object and
the movement of shadow with wind.
I am sure some would argue that such absences are more than
adequately compensated for. It’s up to the individual I agree. In that
article I recommended a twisting of accepted knowledge. I suggested that
light be seen as clutter.
I recommended the turning off of unnecessary lights not just for
purposes of conservation and saving but for enhancement of the sense of
well-being.
Indeed anything that falls into the ‘too much’ category can be
described as clutter. And they need not be material artifacts. We
sometimes can’t see the forest for the trees.
We hang so many pictures on the wall that none of them stand out. We
end up being blind to particular picture as well as the wall. If ‘wall’
is mind, then we seem to acquire so many superficial things that we
can’t find that which we desperately need at any given moment because
there’s just too many things to wade through.
Dispel ignorance
We are not helpless. There are things we can do. We can turn off each
unnecessary light. We can gift things we’ve hardly used or are unlikely
to use again. Things we can do without.
We can choose not to purchase or in any ways acquire things we can
well do without.
We can curse the cost of living or we can opt not to buy that which
we don’t need so that we have enough money left to pay for what we
cannot do without. We can curse the burden of living or walk away from
the traps we’ve willingly walked into.
We can light a candle to dispel ignorance, we can turn off the light
that we do not need.
We can choose to be crushed by things we cover ourselves with or
enjoy the lightness of divesting ourselves from such meaningless
trappings.
Light has many meanings. There are times, therefore, to turn a switch
off. There are times also for weight reduction. All in moderation as my
incomparable teacher, Budun Wahanse recommended. [email protected]
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