Inner Work

For the week of: April 23, 2001

Wastefulness

A primary catalyst for lasting transformation arises from clearly seeing and accepting unwelcome truths about ourselves, particularly our self-centeredness. One destructive manifestation of self-centeredness is wastefulness. Greed, laziness, self-indulgence and believing our own half-true justifications, all collude to create an attitude toward the material world that permits us to squander resources. The cumulative impact of billions of individual excesses on human society and on the biosphere as a whole causes profound and shameful damage.

For the coming week, let us look at the ways in which we personally waste resources, goods, and the Earth’s beneficence. When we see ourselves being wasteful, we notice our state of mind and heart that turns a blind eye to our actions. If that seeing inwardly prompts us to do so, we moderate our behavior. We also notice the messages we receive through the media portraying over-consumption as desirable, conditioning us and our children to squander nature’s bounty.

Meeting the true needs of a healthy body, heart, mind, and soul for ourselves and our families is not wasteful. We need not intentionally deprive ourselves of necessities or even pleasures. Rather, we seek a responsible middle path between austere asceticism and hedonistic extravagance.

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