"Turn your mind away from things which are not permanent.

Before I begin this thought, let me just say that I have a very high respect for eastern Taoist and Buddahist wisdom. I think many people can benifit from it.

Having said that, I cam across this quote: "Turn your mind away from things which are not permanent." It was attributed to Buddah.

In a way, this can be a very good thing to do. In a way. Sort of like "In the course of a lifetime, what does it matter?" (Walk Two Moons, recommended read). But the latter is a better way of phrasing it. I think that sometimes, people follow the former far too much nowadays. Because of our 'understanding of science' we now know that species survival is not permanent, nor is the existance of the earth, the climate, or anything at all for that matter. And because it is not permanent, we don't respect it as much as we perhaps should. Right now, we as humans commit untold ammounts of devistation on the earth. Perhaps because we justify our distructive behaviour by saying: "It's not permanent. Species have died before." We completely ignore the fact that they are alive now and our behaviour is not really all that considerate in the short term. People throw a cigarette butt on the ground because it's small. It can't cause too much damage on its own, right? But we throw millions on the ground every day. Individually, their damage is minimal, but that is a hell of a lot of cigarette butts. Even if you ask about a lifetime, the damage wouldn't be great, but it could butterfly effect into something monserous.

But our consumarist need to own all sorts of crap is an inpermanet thing we could probably avoid. Much of it is unneccessairy. But still, I am not quite so crazy (yet) to say that everyone should shun everything that gives them enjoyment. And for most people, frivolous impermanent knicknacks can do just that. As long as you don't kill to much needlessly, go ahead.