Purity of media

Ran across the following post on the blog Zen Habits. It's a subject I have thought about often when I choose what types of media to take in. I think he states it perfectly. Although a potato chip DOES taste good every now and then:)


One Simple Principle to Live By: Purity

“There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.” - Buddha

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips.

Today I was having an argument with my girlfriend about her watching Big Brother. Basically I was trying to discourage her from watching it. I gave her many reasons not to. It is a waste of time, it is petty, it promotes vanity. In other words, it is the panis et circenses of our days. I don’t think there is a coincidence in the fact that most people that watch Big Brother don’t know the works of George Orwell in the first place…

Anyway, after about an hour of sermon she told me she would try to stop. Thinking about the whole discussion, though, I realized that I could have summarized it in a better way: Big Brother is not something pure.

If you search in the dictionary, pure refers to things that are free of dirt or pollution, that have a uniform composition, that are complete and sinless.

The interesting thing is that this concept can be extended to virtually any field or endeavor. There are pure movies and impure movies. There is pure talk and impure talk. There are pure people and impure people.

Apply the principle of purity to your life and it will become much easier to decide the things you should be doing and the ones you shouldn’t.

Sitting in front of the television watching soap operas or reality shows is impure. It will not make you grow as a human being. It will not make you more conscious. Sometimes, in fact, it will do exactly the opposite.

Have time to spare? Learn a foreign language. Spend some time with friends and family. Read a classic book. Learn how to play an instrument. Practice a sport. These are pure things.

Not convinced that this principle applies to virtually anything? Think about your job. You could always step on other people to rise and make more money. You could always put honesty and integrity aside and do whatever it takes to gain more power.

Is such attitude pure? Would this be worth it? I don’t think so.

In the end it will be only you and a mirror, and usually only pure images get reflected.

Purity of mind and idleness are incompatible. - Mahatma Gandhi

Now where do our votes go?

Saw the top photo in the NY Times this morning accompanying an article on the dangers of electronic voting. Thought it reminded me ironically of another shot we have all seen.

We still have a long way to go

Tonight I went and listened to the co-chair of the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design, Phil Hamlett give an empassioned talk about sustainability and the roles of designers in helping to change things. At the end he flashed a picture of his infant daughter on the screen to put home the point of why he thought the movement is important. He choked up and tears welled in his eyes. I even had to hold back at that point. And what did the first guy in the audience who got up to throw away his empty watter bottle do?

Chuck it into the normal garbage which was next to not one but THREE recycle bins! Awesome.

God doesn't do waste.

Recently the head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, taped a new years message to the public with a refreshing overarching theme of environmental stewardship. It's great to finally hear from a religious leader on this issue because, seriously, if the tenants don't clean up the apartment soon…isn't eviction usually the next step???