As Without, so Within

You've probably all heard the saying "As above, so below; as below, so above." There are several variations of this saying. One of the more interesting ones for me is "As within, so without; as without, so within." This is true in multiple ways. If you want to get a sense of its meaning through experience, try the following exercise.

De-clutter your room, and if possible, your house. Also, if you are able to, de-clutter your office and any other environment you are in for significant portions of your day. Then, practice thought-observation and compare how cluttered your mind is with how cluttered your mind used to be before you de-cluttered your environment. There's a good chance you'll find that when you spend lots of time in a cluttered environment, your mind will also be more cluttered; and, when you de-clutter your environment, your mind will become de-cluttered as well.

When a society is possessed by a consumer culture, the society's group mind tends to become cluttered, and this lack of clarity can result in poor decision-making. Even if everyone around you participates in a consumer culture, you don't have to. You can maintain your independence, strive to keep your surrounding environment de-cluttered, and reap the benefits. We don't need to take a vow of poverty and live with barely any possessions like some religious sects advocate, but we should also see the downsides of succumbing to impulsive tendencies to buy things we don't need. 

Be kind.

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