I was sieving my compost last week and I love doing that - simply because the earthy smell and the whole idea of giving back to nature inspires and heals me immensely. That day, the simple routine activity of sieving gave me a great insight into Life.
While I was sieving the compost, I was thinking of all the things that had gone into making that lot of compost - all kinds of vegetable and fruit waste - bittergourd, tomato, green chilly, capsicum, potato skins, banana flower, carrot heads, apple cores, banana peels, papaya peels etc. There was also some left over rice, bread with fungus, leftover biscuits, and other kitchen waste. Every one of these had its own identity and added its own flavour. And yet, what was left behind after they had decomposed was the same earth. There was nothing in the compost that you could identify as a vegetable or fruit or rotten / stale food. They were all actually the same. One was not more beautiful than the other. One was not more important than the other. One was not more tasty than the other. They all came from the same earth and went back to the same earth where they belonged. So then, what do we human beings rave and rant about all our lives? What do we compete with each other for? What do we think WE own or create in our lives? After all, haven't we come from the same components as everything else in this planet? And isn't that where we go back? Every one of us?
While I was sieving the compost, I was thinking of all the things that had gone into making that lot of compost - all kinds of vegetable and fruit waste - bittergourd, tomato, green chilly, capsicum, potato skins, banana flower, carrot heads, apple cores, banana peels, papaya peels etc. There was also some left over rice, bread with fungus, leftover biscuits, and other kitchen waste. Every one of these had its own identity and added its own flavour. And yet, what was left behind after they had decomposed was the same earth. There was nothing in the compost that you could identify as a vegetable or fruit or rotten / stale food. They were all actually the same. One was not more beautiful than the other. One was not more important than the other. One was not more tasty than the other. They all came from the same earth and went back to the same earth where they belonged. So then, what do we human beings rave and rant about all our lives? What do we compete with each other for? What do we think WE own or create in our lives? After all, haven't we come from the same components as everything else in this planet? And isn't that where we go back? Every one of us?
wonderful and full of deep insights and this article let some qs in my mind.so now answers to those qs and then more qs and the more ans....
ReplyDeleteYes..true..what you wrote..infact that is why people who are connected with earth directly are so much more silent and calmer...so sad that the natural habitat of such people is endangered...forcing them to live among brick and mortar...so for people like me who live in buildings in cities...making compost is a great calmer...and also staying connected with natural way of being helps...Thank you Priya for this post...Yes we all go to dust...and knowing this it is fun to be all or any of those ingredients...that went into the compost...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post!
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