Marie Kondo The Notebook
Fr Bernard Healy
Tidying up isn’t my favourite activity! I had to do a lot of it this summer when I moved from a parish assignment back to student life. Even so, I’m surprised that the latest reality show hit Tidying Up With Marie Kondo caught my attention. Now, I’ve seen television shows of this sort before. Some fall into the Hoarders genre and seem to take prurient delight in the amount of mess they find in people’s homes. Others are about the hard work of cleaning, with folk being bossed about by the presenters in order to cure them of their filthy ways. Tidying Up made an interesting change from both approaches.
Marie Kondo achieved her fame with several books designed to teach what she describes as “The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organising”. The show has a fairly simple format – we meet a household that needs to declutter and tidy up. The emphasis isn’t on how messy their space is, but rather the reason why they want to tidy up. Perhaps they’re a couple expecting a baby, or a widow who needs to say goodbye to her late husband’s belongings. Then, enter Kondo and she gets to work.
What’s fascinating is that the whole process is a therapeutic journey. Kondo is interested in the needs of the household and begins her work by ‘introducing herself’ to the house with a moment of meditation. Then she begins her work with them.
Service
Central is an examination of the objects in one’s life and only keeping what ‘sparks joy’. If something doesn’t ‘spark joy’ for you, you thank it for its service, and you respectfully dispose of it. If there’s something you really need, something practical, which fails to spark joy for you, Kondo suggests that you train yourself to find joy in appreciating its practicality. What’s unique is not the minimalist, stream-lined, clutter-free way of living that she creates, but the attitude towards one’s home and one’s belongings that she teaches. The emphasis is on recognising value, as well as cultivating both detachment and gratitude; this makes me think that there is a certain spirituality in what Kondo is about.
An Irish friend who lives in Japan reminded me that in Japanese culture and in the traditional Japanese Shinto religion, there is the idea that items deserve a certain respect – that every object has a purpose and deserves to be used with gratitude.
Neatness and order emerge from that idea. Although Kondo herself denies much of a direct religious influence on her work, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that, knowingly or otherwise, she’s sharing something of her country’s spiritual tradition.
That’s something deserving of our thoughtful consideration. It’s a simple psychological fact that our belongings and our surroundings shape our outlook. If we are inclined to acquisitiveness, our Catholic tradition would diagnose a spiritual illness. If we live in such a way that our belongings define us, or have a hold over us, that too is a problem.
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The spiritual significance of how we relate to things is something that Pope Francis has referred to. One of his consistent criticisms of the modern world is aimed at the ‘throwaway culture.’ Because we live in a society of disposable items – something that is in itself an environmental issue – it becomes too easy for us to fall into the habit of ‘throwing away.’ That’s bad enough in itself, but when it begins to influence how we treat people, then we’re in big trouble.
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Cultivating an attitude of gratitude – to God and to those who are good to us – is certainly something that shapes our life for the better. Recognising the significance of a gift from a close friend or a memento of a departed family member is both natural and positive. The archetypal ‘good craftsman’ or artist traditionally has a respect for the tools and materials he uses.
Acknowledging the whole world as God’s creation, entrusted to us both for our sake and for the sake of those who come after us is at the heart of our faith. The care and respect we have for our churches and for sacred items are part of that as well.
We recognise the special meaning of sacred spaces and sacred items, and our faith is strengthened when we treat them with reverence.