Sacred vs Desecrated

A lot of Christian churches (and probably synagogues too, and other places) have been infected with a sort of cartesian dualism. Souls matter, Matter doesn't matter. We care about people. The stuff they use, not so much.

Indeed this is not notably different from the philosophy of postmodernism, in which they might if you twist their arm say that people matter, but they have no basis for saying that. More likely, they will say their own people matter, to them. Not a lot else does.

Part of this is part and parcel with having a heavily mercantile nation. Everything is a commodity for sale. People too, ultimately. You can at least say that in this commercial paradigm, things do have value: cash value. When you buy a roll of paper towels, gratitude is irrelevant. You paid for it, although you did not give that tree life nor create it's marvelous design.

A world in which "stuff," the created world, does not matter is eventually a world in which nothing matters. It is a desecrated world.

All of this is a roundabout way of starting to talk about what kind of worldview a person of G-d should have. The worldview of a child of G-d should be that EVERYTHING matters. Everything is a gift from G-d to you. Use that gift WISELY, use it carefully.

Lets do a thought experiment. Read this paragraph and then close your eyes and imagine it. You are being led to your execution. Your arms are tied up, there are shackles on your legs, there is no possibility of escape. But your execution is to happen in a very large if slightly wild and disused garden. So as you are being led slowly (there are shackles on your feet) through this garden, you see everything in it. Flowers and birds, and bumblebees stumbling from flower to flower like drunken pandas. You see a fountain in the garden, with fresh clean water bubbling over it. You see the stones in the pathway, each a slightly different hue. You see the black rich soil. You see the blue sky overhead with just a few wisps of cloud. You see a robin feeding its young. As you walk towards the guillotine, you see the faces of the few people who will be attending your death, and suddenly the expressions of their faces speak volumes about their inner state. Anger. Mournfulness. Dull dutifulness of a soldier who has seen death and no longer cares. Haughty judgement. Pity. Grief.

Now close your eyes and imagine it.

Are not all the little things of this world precious to you, now that you will be leaving the world? What would you not give to go back to that fountain and sit by it awhile, and watch the birds? You would give anything to go back there, but all the money in the world will not return you to that place of life. Even the expressions of the people, even the people who are about to preside over your death, you see them in a new light. If only you had seen all this before, but now your life is to be over.

"In time of trouble, why should I fear
the encompassing evil of those who

would supplant me -

men who trust in their riches

who glory in their great wealth?
Ah, it cannot redeem a man
or pay his ransom to G-d,
the price of life is too high;
and so one ceases to be, forever.

Shall he live eternally and never

see the grave?
For one sees that the wise die,

that the foolish and ignorant both perish,

leaving their wealth to others.

The grave is their eternal home,
the dwelling place of all generations

of those once famous on earth.
Man does not abide in honor,

he is like the beasts that perish.

Such is the fate of those who are
self-confident, the end of those
pleased with their own talk.

Sheeplike they head for Sheol,

with Death as their shepherd
The upright shall rule over them at

daybreak, and their form shall

waste away in Sheol till its

nobility be gone.

But G-d will redeem my life from the clutches

of Sheol, for He will take me."

~Psalm 49:6-16

The attitude of a child of G-d should be that EVERYTHING is a gift from G-d. EVERYTHING. Indeed you could not draw your next breath unless He willed it. Thus, everything in this world is precious. There is nothing trivial. Thus, you should use every gift of G-d with care, AS precious. Use it wisely and be thankful for it.

While only G-d is holy, everything is sacred in the sense that it is a gift from G-d and only G-d could give it. To desecrate what G-d has given is the ultimate ingratitude.

The attitude of the modern world is, we take stuff from the natural world and turn it into products and then sell them. Whether in a truer perception of need anyone really NEEDS what we make is irrelevant, and if we make too much of that product then the only issue is that we have excess inventory. Which is perceived as bad business, but not as a sin. But it IS a sin.

Too many people have no comprehension of the difference between need and want. To destroy the gift that G-d has given you, the natural world, for desire and not true need is a sin. This unfortunately is what the modern world is built on, desire, overconsumption. It is therefore desirable if possible to absent yourself from that world.

Only destroy for true need. Be thankful for what G-d has given you, because no one else can create a world. Be thankful for your life, because no one else can give it to you, and no one else can ever give it back once lost. No amount of money will give you life, and no amount of money can create a world and a universe.

Give thanks to G-d, and use wisely His Creation.