Clearing the clutter

To all living creatures, life is a great mystery. Millions of them exist on earth, yet not one of them can divine what the future holds. Human beings suffer from even greater problems. Among other things, we wonder why we are here and who created us.

Right now though, these imponderables are not what are making the rounds in my mind. It is a much smaller though intriguing matter — why do some of us collect certain things? I am not talking about money or jewels. They have their value in this work-a-day world of ours.

What I am referring to are those throwaway things such as used wrapping paper, nails and packs of playing cards with a few missing. They find a place in drawers or on top of cupboards, where they lie forgotten and dust-laden. We know we will be better off without this clutter but cannot summon the will or the heart to discard them.

One reason for this is that human beings are emotional creatures ruled by sentiments. We find it hard to part with objects that have personal significance. They may be, for instance, old certificates, stuffed toys your child played with or the first drawing she made. They may also be articles that you believe will come in useful some day.

It is only when we realise that outdated things are best discarded that we can move forward and bring in what we really need — order, simplicity or space. Clutter, besides constricting living space, can invade the brain causing much harm.

Called ‘brain clutter’, it has been mentioned as early as 1886 by Arthur Conan Doyle. In Doyle’s tale, A Study in Scarlet, the fictional ace-sleuth Sherlock Holmes describes it in detail. Dr Watson discovers to his astonishment that Holmes is unaware of the Copernican postulate that the earth revolves around the sun rather than the reverse. He is even more flabbergasted when Holmes declares that now he knows it, he will do his best to forget it. His reason?

In Holmes’ own words, “I consider a man’s brain is originally like a little empty attic. A fool takes in lumber of every sort, so that the knowledge which might be useful gets crowded out. It is a mistake to think that this little room can be distended to any length. It is of the highest importance not to have useless facts elbowing out useful ones.”

Though the Copernican theory is by no means trivial, this observation is, in other respects, remarkably accurate. Modern research on memory formation, retention and retrieval have proved it to be true. We can learn to ignore or forget what is trivial and instead concentrate on ideas that are useful.

Pointless conversation and gossip are little more than mental clutter. It is to our advantage that we optimise our thought-process, for, in the wise words of the Buddha, what we think, is what we become.