Apologizing to Stuff- I’m not the only One!
I’d like to Unpack this week with some quotes, from William Coperthwaite’s A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity.
So this is an important book. About breaking free from the over-stuff-ization that accounts for much of modern man’s struggles. I’ve been reading my sister Liron’s copy for a few months now, and Mr. Coperthwaite’s wisdom has been instrumental in helping me learn to Unpack the slowness and simplicity of the backcountry in my life in the city. Thanks Liron!
As you may recall, I apologized publicly to my kitchen knife a few months ago, after the knife complained of its woes in its kitchen drawer. Little did I know that Mr. Coperthwaite believes in apologizing to stuff, as well!
“Have you ever had the experience of apologizing to an inanimate object? When we drop a cup and break it, we violate its nature. All things, be they living or inanimate, have their own nature, spirit, or essence. Whenever we come into contact with anything, we either promote or hinder that essential nature. Unless we seek to understand the nature of the things that surround us, we will be a hindrance rather than a help to our world.
“Developing sensitivity and awareness by searching for the basic nature of things is the road to understanding. When we drop and break a cup, we do violence to its spirit, its purpose, and to the work of the artisan who shaped it. We owe the cup an apology.
“Whether running a canoe aground, dulling a chisel on a nail, or puncturing a tire- instead of cursing, we owe an apology. You may respond that the object has no feelings. I would tend to agree with you. But apologies are both given and received, and the effect on the giver may be more important than the effect on the recipient.”
Mr. Coperthwaite brings some pretty incredible quotes with him in A Handmade Life, and while I’m already quoting, I’d like to share two of my favorites:
“You say, ‘Isnt it sad that a diamond, when seen to its essence, is nothing but common carbon?’ I say, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that common carbon, in its most developed form, is the finest of diamonds?’ You say, ‘Isn’t it sad that altruism, when seen in its basic structure, is nothing but base selfishness?’ I say, ‘Isn’t it marvelous that base selfishness, in its most enlightened form, is the purest of altruism?’”
-Pierre Ceresole (Swiss Engineer, 1879-1945)
And (You may recognize part of this quote from Liron Kranzler’s music/Doogree Records):
“When you work you are a flute
through whose heart the whispering
of the hours turns to music.
To love life through labor is to be intimate
with life’s inmost secret.
All work is empty save when there is love,
for work is love made visible.”
-Khalil Ghibran (Lebanese-American Poet, 1883-1931)
(I love that “work is love made visible” part. Kinda sounds like marriage…)
May our work open us up to what we already have,
A simple week to all,
Yannai
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May 28th, 2008 at 10:49 am
It is a wonderful article to have with good information,experience of apologizing to an inanimate object.Nice to share this one…..
May 29th, 2008 at 10:23 am
By Udi Hammerman:
Hey Yan!
I’ve always loved the idea of apologizing to stuff, and I ‘ve especially been enjoying it these last couple of months that you’ve been addressing and unpacking it for us all… I just wanted to offer a small adition to Mr. Copperthwate’s (sp.?) idea. He says that it may be true that a kitchen knife has no feelings, but that the apology-to-stuff is really for the apologizer. I think that while he’s right in as much as that the apology is also for the apologizer, there’s more… Of course our inanimate objects may not have feelings, but I think that the true potential in the apology to stuff is our understanding what stuff is really about. Why is it that we really believe in the apology to stuff? Because we think it might be wrong for people to abuse stuff. Because we think that it may be that humanity needs to look at stuff not as ‘objects’ that are ours to own as much as we want of, or to use in any way we see fit (can you imagine your kitchen knife saying: ‘I fell that you just treat us like objects’!). If stuff belongs to us, and we have every right to use and abuse stuff, than there truly is no need to apologize, and we can feel just like a Feudal Lord who had no idea that he might need to apologize to his surfs for their slavery. The reason that it might not be so, is that stuff is not ours (Just like we learned this morning in the Mei SHiloach about Shmitta). Stuff is a gift,directly from the Source of Stuff, Blessed be He, Himself. To treat the world as a precious gift, and all things in it as such, is to allow Stuff to be connected to its own Truth. The reason we can’t sack the Rainforests, trash Oceans or abuse our kitchen knives comes fro the same place, and so does the apology to all of those things. The Apology is first and foremost to the Bestower of stuff, for if a King gave you a precious gift and you broke it, abused it or neglected it, would you not be culpable to Him? Our kitchen knife may not have feelings, but they are only the beginning of our responsibility to stuff and it’s Truth.
Love Udi