“Sacred” is a status given to certain things irrespective of usefulness or age. It has little to do with their true value.
Documents, mementos, food, books, etc.
The following situations show typical patterns of behavior for people who regard things as “sacred”:
For goodness’ sake! I should have a secretary. Doing all these things at the same time—it’s beyond my management ability. Flooded with client faxes every day, wads of documents every time there’s a meeting and always having to check through past data and media reports. And at the end of a project all the papers have to be kept just in case. Oh no! I thought all that was trash, but it’s important data. I nearly threw it out. It’ll have to be distributed for reference at the next meeting.
She was such a cute baby. Look at this tiny thing she used to wear. They grow up so fast! Well, I suppose I’d better give it to the bazaar. The shawl’s got some lovely lace, though… I think I’ll keep it. And these baby clothes she wore when we went to the shrine—they were a present from my mother-in-law, so I can’t get rid of them. Oh! Etchan loved this! She used to point at it and say “Bear.” Everything’s so full of memories!
The bookcase is getting too full. I’d better get rid some of some books. The problem is this shelf… I’ve kept all my books from university, but I’m sure I won’t use them again. Maybe they’d be useful for work at the institute. Let’s have a look. Wow! This takes me back. All that underlining! I took it all very seriously. Studied hard. Oh, what’s this? Michiko 7pm. Shibuya—by the Hachiko Statue in Shibuya. Ha ha! Must have written that down while I was on the phone. Michiko! I wonder if she’s married… Well, it’s nice looking at these books from time to time… full of memories.
The ham in the fridge has spoiled. Again! What about this? Is this meat OK? All this milk—consume by… tomorrow! We’ve got to be more careful. Didn’t your mother tell you not to waste food? Think of all the starving children in the world! And what about the farmers? Oh dear. I’m turning into my father.
You’re getting rid of this? Throwing it out? You shouldn’t do that. Books should be treasured. I get cross with the children if they don’t respect books…
The first thing I’d like to say is that you shouldn’t automatically treat work documents as “sacred.”
It may be unfair of me to quote a book on document management, but I am going to do so, because while the author fully appreciates the importance of getting rid of things in general, he treats work documents, and only work documents, as “sacred”:
It is relatively easy to decide whether clothes, tools, food, etc., are necessary or not. If things are broken or rotten, then the decision is very simple. In general, the necessity or otherwise of something can be decided on the basis of its physical characteristics or appearance. The subject of this book is mainly paper, and in some cases it is easy to make a judgment about this too. Used tissues or torn paper bags obviously serve no purpose. The decision is easy because they carry no information. There are certain types of information-carrying paper too about which a decision can quickly be made. For example, newspapers: once a newspaper is out of date it has little value and can probably can be discarded. But documents and memos are completely different. They can still be important, even if they are old and torn. Discarding important documents by mistake can cause extremely serious problems.
If you’ve read this far in my book, you’ll realize that Noguchi’s views are rather one-sided. If it was so simple to judge whether or not clothes, tools, and food items were necessary, homes would not be flooded with things in the way they are. Ditto the workplace. The problem lies in the fact that so many unnecessary items are in useable condition. From this point of view, they’re no different than documents. Anybody who can simply accept Noguchi’s position is someone who already regards documents (= information) as sacred. It’s this attitude that makes people incapable of managing the limitless flows of information we’re all subjected to.
Many businessmen regard their work as the most important thing in their lives. They have little respect for things in the home, but treat anything to do with work as sacred. As long as they maintain this attitude, their workplace will always be cluttered.
The Art of Discarding is not limited to particular types of things—it’s an approach to life in general. Mementos, food, and books are regarded as sacred for different reasons. Once you lose a body of information, it’s difficult to rebuild. If you lose mementos they’re gone forever. Books are books and food is food, and both should be treated with respect. (I won’t analyze why this is. Such attitudes to food and books are accepted as common sense. It can be difficult to show a clear basis for something, even if it seems reasonable.)
But whatever reason you have for regarding something as sacred, remember it’s only you that is giving it that status. Nobody else regards it as “untouchable.” The real reason you can’t get rid of it is that you have some dependence on it.
To stop seeing things as sacred you have to tell yourself one thing: “When I’m dead, it will all be trash.”
I don’t want to criticize you if you think certain items are worth keeping. That would be as pointless as telling a believer that their religion is nonsense. You can file away papers that you’ll never look at again. You can surround yourself with mementos and live in the past. You can let the floor collapse under the weight of books. You can forever be eating things just before their use-by date. And if you’re happy like that, then that’s fine.
But when you die, it will all be trash. If you were to die right now in a traffic accident, that album you’ve kept so carefully will be thrown away. Your books will be bought up as a job lot by a second-hand bookshop. Wouldn’t it be better to clear things out instead and enjoy a clutter-free life while you can?