Flowers and garbage are both organic, writes the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh in an essay that startled me and got me thinking.
Looking deeply into the nature of a flower (which I have done), he writes, “You can see the presence of the compost and the garbage. The flower is also going to turn into garbage, but don’t be afraid! You are gardeners, and you have the power to transform garbage into flowers, fruit, and vegetables. You don’t throw anything away because you are not afraid of garbage. Your hands can transform it into flowers, lettuce, or cucumbers.”
Hanh argues that the same thing is true of happiness and sorrow. Sorrow, fear, and depression are all a kind of garbage. These bits of garbage are part of real life, and we need to look deeply into their nature. This is what I do when I meditate and look for the truth about myself.
“You can practice to turn these bits of garbage into flowers,” he says.” It is not only our love that is organic; your hate is, too. “So you should not throw anything out or pretend it doesn’t exist. You have to learn how to transform our garbage into flowers.”
I can relate to this strange bit of philosophy and healing. Maria never throws anything out and can connect all living things to flowers or one another. She intuitively understands the things that link the world together. It isn’t a natural idea to me, but it is an exciting one, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that I have been trying to do this for some time now without realizing it.
Hanh’s analogy caught my eye and has my head spinning. I initially didn’t think of it or see the connection, but I can grasp what he says.
In a sense, this is what I have been working to do for some years now, with some success, although there is still work. There is something significant in that idea.
I’ve tossed a lot of garbage, although I have never collected it to a flower. Yet I do have the power he is talking about to transform one kind of feeling into another, to turn hate and anger into love and empathy, and to identify the parts of me I need to accept, understand, and let go of. I love this parable, even though it might keep me mulling it tonight, but I wanted to share it.
I won’t think of flowers and/or garbage in the same way.
