Soucha (Cleanliness)

Cleanliness, at the first glance may seem to indicate the external and physical surroundings. It is indeed true to an extent. Unless the place is clean, how can anyone imagine living in a place?

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. That adage insists on the importance of physical Cleanliness.

We need to keep our house, surroundings and the society clean and neat. Only when the place is clean, do we feel like doing anything useful or constructive. Don't you agree?

Cleanliness is the scourge of art - Craig Brown.

How to keep our house, surroundings and society clean ? We need to have an awareness that we dispose of the waste mindfully and categorically like biodegradable waste and non degradable waste, electrical waste? and hazardous waste. The usage of plastic covers and bags has reduced and has been banned in some of the countries due to its ability to pollute the environment. Let us go green to keep our planet clean.

Cleanliness is a state of purity, clarity and precision - Suze Orman.

Pollution includes land, water, air and sound as well. In most of the countries both solid and liquid waste disposal has been streamlined and the chance of pollution is very marginal.?

Air pollution :?

The exhaust and fumes of the factory, manufacturing units, vehicle emissions? play a major part in polluting the air. All of these are to be monitored and methods to be regulated to minimise the air pollution. Electric vehicles contribute significantly? to the reduction in air pollution. Ozone layer depletion, global warming, respiratory and pulmonary diseases are some of the major side effects of air pollution.

Water pollution :?

Water pollution happens by the drainage of harmful chemicals, sludges and waste into the water bodies like rivers, lakes and canals. Toxic and fatal chemical substances from the farms, factories, manufacturing units and even houses harm the water bodies greatly. The United States has had an effective way to combat water pollution by introducing the? “Clean Water Act” for the past 5 decades.

Land Pollution:

Soil erosion, soil contamination, land deterioration and degradation are the forms of land pollution. It is caused by the? Industrial waste, mining, agricultural activity and radioactivity as well. Using biodegradable products, using fertilizers without harmful chemicals are some of the ways to mitigate land pollution.

In most of the developed countries, each and every citizen has an innate responsibility to keep his society and country clean. But sadly and unfortunately in some countries that individual self discipline is lacking. People throw waste carelessly and unconsciously in the streets or neighborhood without a care.?

Environmental cleanliness begins with each individual’s desire to be clean - Lailah Akita.

But soucha does not restrict itself to external cleaning alone. It extends deeper into one self. What kind of thoughts, feelings and emotions one is having because they only create the behaviour and attitude of a person which gradually becomes the character.

When we are not clean “inside”, how can we expect our external environment to be clean ? Our mind needs to be calm, cool and quiet with a minimum number of thoughts. When too many thoughts pass through our minds, it would eventually lead to drainage of energy only . Nothing useful happens because of overthinking and worrying about things which may not even happen in the future.

Stop overthinking, its like a treadmill for your mind - unknown.

Moreover, there should be a connection with what we think, speak and do. This is a very basic thing. But sadly most of the people don't have any connection among the three. They think something, speak something else and do something totally different. Lack of integrity needs to be addressed most importantly for inner cleaning.

Be impeccable with your word - Don Miguel Ruiz

Therefore, it's better to pay attention to the inner cleanliness first much before the external cleanliness. Let's clean our inner self first which can pave the way for our awareness and accountability to keep the external environment clean. What say you ?

Ending with a good and profound definition of goodness.

Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like.