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SAGE EVERYTHING BUT THE TRUTH

 

The Atmospheric Defense

 

There was a time when being unpleasant required a certain amount of personal responsibility. One could insult a relative, sabotage a friendship, or reduce a dinner party to a hostage situation and expect, at minimum, an uncomfortable conversation afterward. Fortunately, we’ve evolved.

 

The modern offender needs only to announce that the energy feels wrong. The accusation is wonderfully economical. No witnesses, no particulars, no tedious examination of who said what to whom.

 

The atmosphere has been implicated, and atmospheres are notoriously poor at defending themselves.

 

A room becomes heavy after someone points out an inconvenient truth. A friendship develops toxic energy immediately following a request for an apology.

 

A family gathering acquires negative vibrations shortly after its most opinionated member explains, for the fourth time, why everyone else’s life choices are disappointing.

 

The solution, naturally, is sage. A few determined passes around the furniture, a solemn inspection of the corners, and the household has undergone a spiritual intervention.

 

The smoke receives considerably more attention than the people who left. The person responsible for the disturbance is now the person qualified to remove it. An elegant arrangement.

 

Retail Absolution

 

Of course, atmospheric disturbances can be stubborn. Sometimes the sage fails to restore harmony, particularly when the people responsible for the alleged negativity insist on remembering what happened.

 

Fortunately, spiritual commerce has developed a remedy for nearly every form of unresolved wrongdoing. Consider lunar-infused water, attractively bottled, ceremonially blessed, and available with expedited shipping.

 

For $48, the purchaser may acquire the comforting sensation of having addressed a problem without enduring the inconvenience of addressing it. The transaction is almost sacramental. Money changes hands. A package arrives.

 

The conscience, having contributed financially to its own rehabilitation, considers the matter settled.

 

The bottle may even come with a certificate of authenticity, an especially reassuring feature for water whose principal qualification is having enjoyed a favorable relationship with the moon.

 

An apology, by comparison, is embarrassingly inexpensive. It requires no special packaging, arrives without a tracking number, and offers no opportunity to photograph one’s commitment to personal growth.

 

Worse, the recipient might respond. Better to purchase the water.

 

The Vocabulary of Innocence

 

The final stage of purification requires no smoke, no celestial assistance, and no further financial investment. Only language. An apology becomes an invitation to revisit negativity.

 

A reasonable objection becomes an attack on personal peace. Someone asking to be treated decently is accused of failing to respect boundaries.

 

The vocabulary is exquisite. Every expression confers moral authority on the person least interested in earning it. Protecting one’s peace sounds considerably nobler than refusing to answer a difficult question.

 

Honoring one’s highest self carries more dignity than admitting that one’s ordinary self behaved disgracefully.

 

And setting boundaries is particularly useful. Genuine boundaries establish what treatment a person will accept. Their counterfeit cousins establish whether anyone may object to the treatment that person gives. The distinction is rarely advertised.

 

Soon the entire moral landscape has been rearranged. The injured party is toxic. The offended party is unevolved. The person who remembers the offense is trapped in the past.

 

Meanwhile, the person who committed it has embarked on a healing journey.

 

No restitution is necessary. No explanation is forthcoming. The offending behavior remains intact, now protected by a vocabulary designed to make questioning it sound abusive.

 

The house smells of sage. The lunar water occupies a place of honor. Every troublesome relationship has been assigned an unfavorable frequency. The atmosphere is finally innocent. Its principal offender remains in residence.

 

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