Post by Plainsman on Dec 24, 2020 11:46:28 GMT -5
The real “civilizing graces” may not be very dramatic at all. Rather than poetry and the arts they might be the simple and unlovely ones of washing the dishes and the clothes, mowing the grass, taking out the garbage, and feeding the dogs. We could all make up our own lists of these trivial tasks. But calling them trivial perhaps fails to do them justice, as they just might be the pegs one which all of civilization hangs.
We do them without ceremony, off–handedly and usually to get them over with as soon as possible. And yet these are the tasks in and around which we build and live our lives.
It may be the lack of ceremony that trivializes them. They are simply “chores”– something no one enjoys doing. Something that just has to be done.
But what would happen in our lives if we de–trivialized these chores, if we recognized them for the signposts and foundation stones they were? Perhaps even made them minor semi-sacred rituals? Would it not make our lives richer?
I admit there is a Zen–like element here.
We do them without ceremony, off–handedly and usually to get them over with as soon as possible. And yet these are the tasks in and around which we build and live our lives.
It may be the lack of ceremony that trivializes them. They are simply “chores”– something no one enjoys doing. Something that just has to be done.
But what would happen in our lives if we de–trivialized these chores, if we recognized them for the signposts and foundation stones they were? Perhaps even made them minor semi-sacred rituals? Would it not make our lives richer?
I admit there is a Zen–like element here.
