New Idea, Old Idea

"Thirty spokes, uniting in a nave, were employed before the invention of carriages. Clay made into utensils was employed before the time of palaces and dwellings. A door and a window, hewn, did duty for a residence before the erection of houses. Wherefore, the possession of these things may be regarded as beneficial, while their absence may be said to have been useful." - Tao Te Ching - verse 11 LAO TZU

Let me ask a few questions.  Who was the first person to make a bowl?  Or a spoon?  Or a window?  Or a door?  Why did the first person decide to make a bowl?  Or spoon?  Or window?  Or door?  The answer is very easy to understand but difficult to remember in our daily lives.  The first anything was created simply for the purpose it served.  The first bowl allowed someone to hold something that was necessary to their life.  The first spoon allowed someone to nourish themselves with what the bowl held.  The first window allowed someone to peer out and gaze upon the world...from within.  The first door allowed someone to close out the world and ponder its existence...within.

So, in answering the questions and then taking our study further, we begin to recognize the purpose for the existence of things.  As imperfect creatures, we lead ourselves to the worship of material items so much that we begin to lose sight of their purpose.  How many items exist in our homes that we use every single day of our lives and if we didn't have those items we would be miserable and die?  And I mean literally die?  Some out there would literally die if they didn't have their specialized medical equipment, that's not what I mean.  There is not one thing that I can think of, that exists in my home, that I use every day, that if I didn't have it I would be miserable and die.  Except for one thing...well, two things...air and water.  Beyond that, everything else in my home is strictly for making my life easier. 

My hands can become a bowl, but that bowl leaks and is limited by how much it can carry.  So I make, or buy, a bowl that allows me to hold more nourishment.  Does it really make a difference what that bowl looks like?  Or course not.  The color of the walls of the bowl have no effect on its ability to hold things.  It becomes apparent then that it is not the material of the bowl that has a purpose, but the ability of the bowl to hold things that is the purpose.  It does not matter that a spoon is made of silver, it matters that the spoon can move things.  (Those straw dogs are starting to creep around again.)  Why do we punish ourselves, then, when we cannot buy the latest and greatest cellular device?  Or the Gucci handbag?  Or a fully-equipped Lexus?  Does it really matter what our possessions look like?  Can we not be satisfied with the usefulness of our possessions instead? 

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