Summer castaways

Have you ever had the heartbreaking experience of having to choose to throw out some books because there is no space in your bookshelf? I have been having to throw out a number of books this summer. They were volumes I had been gifted or I had myself accumulated over the years. Some were well read, some were not opened. I would look at them and think I will read them one day. My book collection had piled up over the years because I always felt that I was going to read them one day or the other.   This summer I realised that I was never going to be able to do that. I would always be too busy to actually sit down and read those books. Life would happen and then that magic time would pass by and the books would lie there unread.   On Thursday I took out boxes of books. In the first box were books by English authors. Dickens, George Eliot and Mrs Gaskell as well as some of the Romantic poets. I had read all of them except Mrs Gaskell and they were on my shelves waiting for that opportunity to be reread. Yet they were also taking up shelf space that was much needed for other books. So out they went and it was like putting out a basket of motherless puppies. I felt cruel and heartless. I felt I was doing myself a disfavour.   Two weeks later I had to admit that I no longer missed them. That was surprising to me and I looked through more books to see if I really needed so many books in the house. The result of this survey was that another lot got thrown out. Some were gifts and I know I won't relish them so it didn't hurt so much to cast them out. I only felt sorry for the giver but they had been given years ago so perhaps the giver would no longer mind.   The lesson I learned from this was two-fold. One was that human beings are highly acquisitive by nature. That is not new information. But it is new when applied to oneself. The other lesson was that when the time is right for it, casting away things is a good exercise. It is a metaphor for getting rid of things that weigh you down. It is both a spiritual as well as a physical metaphor. St Paul spoke of getting rid of things that burden you and pull you back in your spiritual race.  

Looking back, I ask myself, where would I go with my many books? Or for that matter where would any of us go with our many acquisitions? They do weigh us down and change our priorities. I am better off without the extra weight. That applies to all of us.   In a manner of speaking, it is easier to get rid of things we own. We simply throw them away or give them to someone who can make use of them. Second hand clothes can always be used by someone less fortunate than you. Second hand books are valuable for book lovers and so on. But we do weigh ourselves down with intangible things. In fact we weigh ourselves down more with those than we weigh ourselves down with acquisitions. In many different circles we have  talked about the top attitude problem people have – it turned out to be judgmentalism. We make judgments based on appearances and our prejudiced preconceptions of what others might be like. For that matter, religious people can be the most judgmental people in the world.   I love the Christian cartoons that present this situation comically. That’s probably the best thing to do – have a good laugh at this attitude and throw it out along with the rest of the things we need to get rid of. That goes for racist, communal attitudes that bog down positive growth of any human society.