Wisdom Snippet #5
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." — Rumi, 1207–1273
Gutter Philosophy
It is mandatory for us to create a value system where we can thrive, refuel on energy, feel free and also connected to people or purposes — regardless of the rightfulness or wrongfulness of our actions.
And I don't mean breaking the law.
I mean finding joy although the state of the world scares you. Doing things your way and not thinking in footprints all the time.
This has nothing to do with ruthlessness. It shouldn't apologize for asshole behavior. Rather, this is an advocate for a belief system that doesn't make you feel bad for the things you enjoy. But not to be ignorant either.
We all carry the burden of cognitive dissonance. "Man, I really dream of going to [insert long-distance destination of your dreams here], but flying is so bad for the environment." You're damn right. Damn right to have that dream, damn right to be frugal with resources. Forgive yourself for that dream. Follow it — fly there — but maybe reduce emissions on the other days. You might make more positive change than if you'd stayed home, the dream curdling into bitterness.
The concept of the carbon footprint is a tragedy. We humans cannot roam this earth without a footprint. We cannot breathe without expelling CO2. We're being tricked into feeling guilty about being the people we want to be — by literally big oil. They managed to shift the blame for polluting the environment, for deliberately choking the atmosphere, for not pivoting energy consumption into more sustainable business models, for killing you softly by exhaustion, for coloring the world blackened — unto all of us. You feel bad for driving somewhere, they stroke their hard-on for burning some fossils. Just like the priest managed to make us feel bad for loving the wrong person, because he's yearning to touch his altar boys where the sun doesn't shine.
Rumi — "the Roman" — was a preacher first, poet and mystic later. We will probably never know for sure if he walked away repelled by the practices in his mosque at the time, or if he simply outgrew his theology. Either way, he transcended an orthodox, narrow religion to find a spiritual philosophy that lives to this day. Proof: a rando on the internet picks up his quote 750 years later and thinks about how it fits his belief system.
The music too loud, the car polluting the air, the taste too shallow, still liking the stuff that's unhealthy. Something is always not rightful. But also not completely wrongful.
There's a space between it. We have to find it and make room for our dreams, our inspirations, our instincts. But treat it with respect and don't burn everything beyond it.
Then we can make peace with the stuff we enjoy and watch our footprint with a smile.
It's definitely the shape of a flip flop, isn't it?
