The Principle of emptiness

My continual job this summer is to clean out my studio and rid myself of things that I won't be needing and haven't used.  This is a painful process for an artist as everything speaks to us of an idea, a possible use.  I have already thrown out all the beautiful metal pieces I gathered on the beach! 


 My problem though is I always want to find a home for things that are still useful and that is more difficult in France where there is no " Salvation Army" etc.  I know where to take the clothes but the rest of the stuff.... well...  I don't even want to get started!


  But because I agree with Joseph Newton and other age old philosophers : you cant' move forward without stirring things up and moving things on I am inching forward with my project.


 Here is an excerpt from his book:

Have you got the habit of hoarding useless objects, thinking that one day, who knows when, you may need them?

Have you got the habit of accumulating money, and not spending it because you think that in the future you may be in want of it?

Have you got the habit of storing clothes, shoes, furniture, utensils and other home supplies that you haven’t used already for some time?

And inside yourself... Have you got the habit to keep reproaches, resentment, sadness, fears and more?

Don’t do it! You are going against your prosperity!

It is necessary to make room, to leave an empty space in order to allow new things to arrive to your life.

It is necessary that you get rid of all the useless things that are in you and in your life, in order to prosperity to arrive.
The force of this emptiness is one that will absorb and attract all that you wish.
As long as you are, materially or emotionally, holding old and useless feelings, you won’t have room for new opportunities.

Goods must circulate...
Clean your drawers, the wardrobes, the workshop, the garage...
Give away what you don’t use any longer...
The attitude of keeping a heap of useless stuff ties your life down.
It’s not the objects you keep that stagnate your life...
but rather the attitude of keeping...

When we keep in store, we consider the possibility of wanting, of penury...
We believe that tomorrow it may lack, and that we won’t be able to fulfill those necessities...
With that idea, you are sending two messages to your brain and to your life:
That you don’t trust tomorrow... and you think that the new and the better are not for you.

For this reason you cheer yourself up by storing old and useless stuff.

Get rid of what lost its color and brightness...
Let the new enter your home... and yourself.
May prosperity and peace reach you soon
Amen.

Acknowledgment: Excerpt from Joseph Newton's Principle of Emptiness; inspirational images by Gregory Colbert and music "Where Dreams are Born" by John Williams.