My daughters are about that age now when they can really get into Legos. And that's exciting. Because first, Legos give you the potential of modeling ideas in your head and bringing them into some resemblance of reality. And two, I like to play with Legos too!
Anyway, I got to thinking about Legos as a reflection of our relationship to creation. There are really three things that you can do with a Lego set. 1. You can try to keep the box and all the parts and pieces in their original condition - using them as little as possible. 2. You can use them for purposes they were not intended - like trashing them, breaking them, losing them, using them for house insulation, or worse. 3. You can use them to build the car or boat or house or whatever the designer intended AND modify it for your own purposes and tastes AND build something entirely different - and expression of your creativity and your wants and desires at the time. At the same time, you want to take care not to lose or destroy any parts, because then your Lego set will be less than it was to begin with and not as great a toy to play with anymore. Number 3 is what is so awesome about Legos!
Back to Creation. Creation can be viewed as one massive huge Lego set. All the pieces and parts of everything we can possibly need or want are here in our playground, our Lego set called Earth. Now we can try to leave it as undisturbed as possible (the radical environmentalist view). But that would serve to stifle our creativity and quality of life - possibly even destroying ourselves, because we don't use the "legos" of the earth to provide for our own lives. We can just trash the earth and take what we want in wild abandon. But then, like lost and destroyed Legos, the earth would not provide us what we need or want - creativity and quality of life gone forever. Or, we can use the earth the way it was intended - use all of the building blocks we have been given for our sustenance, our homes and businesses, our pleasure, and our creative expression. But then use those same blocks again and again for new and different purposes. Our earth, like Legos, is remarkably resilient and adaptable. It is here for our use and it is here for us to take care of and manage.
So go enjoy your big box of Legos. (But clean them up after you're done!)
Anyway, I got to thinking about Legos as a reflection of our relationship to creation. There are really three things that you can do with a Lego set. 1. You can try to keep the box and all the parts and pieces in their original condition - using them as little as possible. 2. You can use them for purposes they were not intended - like trashing them, breaking them, losing them, using them for house insulation, or worse. 3. You can use them to build the car or boat or house or whatever the designer intended AND modify it for your own purposes and tastes AND build something entirely different - and expression of your creativity and your wants and desires at the time. At the same time, you want to take care not to lose or destroy any parts, because then your Lego set will be less than it was to begin with and not as great a toy to play with anymore. Number 3 is what is so awesome about Legos!
Back to Creation. Creation can be viewed as one massive huge Lego set. All the pieces and parts of everything we can possibly need or want are here in our playground, our Lego set called Earth. Now we can try to leave it as undisturbed as possible (the radical environmentalist view). But that would serve to stifle our creativity and quality of life - possibly even destroying ourselves, because we don't use the "legos" of the earth to provide for our own lives. We can just trash the earth and take what we want in wild abandon. But then, like lost and destroyed Legos, the earth would not provide us what we need or want - creativity and quality of life gone forever. Or, we can use the earth the way it was intended - use all of the building blocks we have been given for our sustenance, our homes and businesses, our pleasure, and our creative expression. But then use those same blocks again and again for new and different purposes. Our earth, like Legos, is remarkably resilient and adaptable. It is here for our use and it is here for us to take care of and manage.
So go enjoy your big box of Legos. (But clean them up after you're done!)
