Trash

THURS., DEC. 28, 1995, 7:15 AM
FARM, STUDY

Trash… is a word with a generally negative connotation. It can refer to what was never of any… or of very little value. Or it can represent what once had value, but… no more. There is a certain amount of actual trash, here in the earth, but, in your culture, much too much. Recycling represents the desire to make trash usable… and, hence, valuable again. And of this I approve.

If Holy Scripture were being written and assembled in the world in which you now live it would include, somehow, the observation that “there is no ‘away’ where you can throw trash”. You see a dumpster full of wood scraps, and you consider how much heat that could generate in a stove, fireplace, or furnace. Yet you let it remain trash, to be thrown ‘away’. You are regularly aware of the trash that goes into the dumpster at Arnold’s, and you are bold enough, usually, to technically break the law and “rescue” what can be food for your animals.

You are not a truly gung ho recycler, but you’re above average for your culture. Your paper logs convert trash into heat. You recycle cans and most glass. You use hay in several ways, letting even that which is trash to be useful. Yet there is still a certain amount of trash that just “sits around” or is slipped into a dumpster somewhere (on a somewhat rotating basis).

It was almost a shock to read that sometime in the near future all present television sets will be obsolete. You envisioned the 100’s of millions of sets that would become trash, and you wondered if that really would happen. Is there no end to his fetish that your culture has for the new and even the slightly better?

Why should I, as the Ultimate Spiritual Being, be concerned with issues such as this? Spirit can develop with a heap of trash nearby, not can’t it? But do you envision heavenly realms as having trash? Out of these questions comes the proclamation that I love this earth that I have created… in such a way that human life, as well as many other forms, can prosper. I want this earth to be as beautiful as it can be. I have allowed an increasing number of humans to be alive at one time. I have allowed innovation, which makes for obsolescence. Yet I want you humans to voluntarily produce and allow as little trash as possible.

One terrible form of trash is nuclear waste. I am not opposed to electricity, even as there is nothing in Scripture which indicates my feeling about this. I see much excess use, however, and I am aware of the waste its production is responsible for. Nuclear power, in its production, does not pollute the air, as the burning of fossil fuels does. Yet it does have its own lethal form of trash, which still cannot be safely disposed of. The trash from nuclear weapons is the worst, in My judgment. Not only did their manufacture produce radioactive waste, but the weapons themselves, as they become obsolete (a positive!) become another form of dangerous trash.

Still… the worst form of trash, from My spiritual perspective, are humans that have no good place in life or who become criminals, for selfish reasons. Your culture tries, in some ways, to prevent this form of trash, but, at the same time, it rather directly creates more. Your sons seem to be adaptable enough to succeed, each in his own way. Each is contributing, and is trying to help others, including their own children, avoid becoming trash.