Peace is not in a hug, in sunsets, beaches, mountains or forests. Peace is not in meditation, in self-acceptance or in the satisfactory resolution of a conflict. Nor is peace found in self-knowledge, in serenity or in the passage of years. Of course peace is not in music, nor in solitude, nor in the starry sky above me nor the moral law in me. Peace is in the toilet.
We have read various studies that talk about the increase in the time spent in the world’s toilets. The human being needs a moment of calm, an encounter with himself. The toilet is tiger nuts. People warn about the risk of hemorrhoids, they talk about the pernicious presence of the mobile phone in the bathroom, but the reality is that the bathroom is still a fort and a small piece of life insurance.
“I’m going to the bathroom” is the wild card of the call of everyday life
Just as the baroque told us about the equalizing power of death with its poems about skulls, its texts by Gracián, the Solitudes by Góngora or the very explicit paintings of Valdés Leal with his In Icto Oculieffective and rigorous reminder like a traffic agent, current times tell us about immediacy, speed, appearance, humiliation, reason for wit and change of mind.
It is in this context where the toilet appears as a solution to so much plastic and so much pre-cooked and retreaded content. There is an equalizing power in the toilet because we all do the same thing, beyond the quality and comfort of the china. Physiology sits with us and invites us to reflect, but not all of us pay attention and look inward. The telephone is an invitation to always look outside.
In the toilet, no one questions you about anything. There may be knocking on the door, but it can wait. “I’m going to the bathroom” is the wild card call of everyday life. It is a space without social expectations, with a predictable and, in principle, safe environment, efficiency or productivity is not required and the purity of simplicity is valued. The latch is sometimes necessary. Good people, dear friends, think about it and value it. Peace is in the toilet.
#Peace #toilet #Column #Saldaña
