Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

[Little Corbie]

I think this thread fits best in here... I've always had a big thing about jewellery: as a child I hated the idea of decorating myself in that way. In early teens I started making my own from found objects and objects of deep significance - they seemed to have a protective energy. I once found a silver ring on a mountain under a stone and felt a strong energy from that but then was suddenly told to 'pass it on' several years later when I got married. My early feminist years saw me shunning all forms of jewellery, even home made but that seemed fake and depressing. Recently I've been challenged to think not about the impact the jewellery has on me or how others perceive me, but the impact it has on the earth - is it right to dig up metals to make jewellery? Is it OK if we pan for gold and silver instead of mining them? Is amber OK is it done to such a huge scale now that it becomes stealing from the trees? What about crystals? What about the labour conditions and transport issues involved in jewellery production and trade?
This might sound like an ethical issue, but I think, for me, it is intrinsically linked with spirituality - the damage of both earth spirits and human spirits...
I'm interested to know what you guys think as most folks I know think I am 'worrying too much' -which is likely true! - anyway, just interested to hear some other views on the subject

[Rae'ya]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

Personally, I do think that there are some ethical issues regarding the large scale mining and production of such things, but that's not limited to jewelry. I apply the same logic to anything that is taken from the earth or produced... including such things as frying pans and stove tops. You could argue that stove tops and frying pans are useful or enhance our survival but jewelry is just useless adornment... but I find that logic flawed. We don't need frying pans to survive any more than we need jewelry.

So while I think that there are ethical issues and a part of my spirituality is about reducing my environmental impact... I think that it's unrealistic and naive to simplify things down into frivolity vs survival. Because the truth is that what most people think they need to survive is not necessary at all.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

For me this raises the point of the contrary issues most if not all of us exhibit everyday. Consider jewelry issues about rings, bracelets, etc yet think nothing of the modern jewelry such as cell phones, Ipods, blue tooth's, etc that we adorn ourselves with. Consider the rape of natural resources yet the alternative is the creation of yet more man made fibers and such that do not even break down and return to the environment. Speak about a counter top but disregard the damage the family automobile does to the environment, tires that seldom are recycled but simply accumulate in landfills and such. Then lets look at the new light bulbs for instance that are so much better for the environment supposedly but are worse than the current old fashion light bulb when it comes to getting rid of them.

Yep got to avoid mining or digging for that metal to make a ring yet heaven forbid if you don't do it to make that computer part or circuit board to run your favorite game.

In so many ways people seem to be hypocrites. Yet the reality is we all are hypocrites to things that we are against while we support and / or endorse things we like.

[Briar]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

Personally, I do think that there are some ethical issues regarding the large scale mining and production of such things, but that's not limited to jewelry. I apply the same logic to anything that is taken from the earth or produced... including such things as frying pans and stove tops. You could argue that stove tops and frying pans are useful or enhance our survival but jewelry is just useless adornment... but I find that logic flawed. We don't need frying pans to survive any more than we need jewelry.

So while I think that there are ethical issues and a part of my spirituality is about reducing my environmental impact... I think that it's unrealistic and naive to simplify things down into frivolity vs survival. Because the truth is that what most people think they need to survive is not necessary at all.

This is pretty much what I think as well. If a person is going to claim to have a connection to nature, they should at least acknowledge what mining does to the earth. Most people don't take vacations at open pit mines because they are a scar on the planet. If a person's religion has nothing to do with the earth then having stones and jewelry is no big deal for them, but then why would they need stones for magic if their magic had nothing to do with the earth?

For me, the ground beneath my feet connects me to all stones on the planet, I don't need to "own" those stones to feel their energy. I do wear a silver bracelet that was given to me by my aunt after my cousin Beth disappeared. Her mother gave all of us an ID bracelet so that if we are lost, our body is found, or we enter a soap opera and lose our memory we have some ID on our body. I wear it out of respect for my aunt and her fears of losing another loved one. I would not have bought it myself but I will wear it. Still I go back and forth on it as it makes me a bit uncomfortable from time to time because for me it is advertising that we humans do damage without really thinking about it.

I live a life that is as close to nature as I can so for me it is a spiritual issue.

[Rowanwood]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

See, I don't see that having a connection to nature negates using its resources.

Have you ever visited a mining operation or a quarry once its ceased operation? Given only a short period of time, nature returns with a vengeance, as if the human animals had never even been there.

While I don't deny that we as a species and a culture could learn to be more gentle in our interactions with the earth, I don't think any interaction that changes things is necessarily a bad thing. We are PART of nature, not apart from it. Like I believe George Carlin joked, maybe Mother Nature created humans because she wanted plastic. Joking aside, I don't think jewelry is a moral issue and I think it is WAY over thinking to consider that, especially if you are discussing it on the internet, on a machine made of far more resources than my wedding ring.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

90% of the gold, silver and copper used today was mined long ago - if you have jewelry made from these metals, some small part of it may actually have first been mined in ancient Babylon.

I recommend using ethics in jewelry items - elephant ivory is bad, but I have no problem with mammoth ivory, which is in plentiful supply these days due to the melting tundra in Alaska and Siberia.

Coral is a problematic item - the coral species that produce jewelry-grade gemstones are endangered. I won't use them.

I wouldn't touch a diamond with a ten foot pole... They are human rights abuses in crystal form.

[Carlin]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

Before I became interested in minimalism I used to have lots of silver/crystal rings and various silver pagan pendants. Then I found out about the conditions miners are subjected to, and the mess we make of the Earth. I gave away all but one crystal pendant (my son gave me it).

These days I prefer to have only what I need and no more, so my mobile is second-hand and ancient, and I don't buy the gadgets that other folk all seem to have. Minimalism (and my lack of jewellery with it) is very much part of my spirituality.

[Little Corbie]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

In so many ways people seem to be hypocrites. Yet the reality is we all are hypocrites to things that we are against while we support and / or endorse things we like.

I definitely agree with this - and I am a very bad culprit for spouting lyrical about my latest ethical 'baddie' whilst stoically refusing to acknowledge other areas where I need to change. I do think we need to change one step at a time, but we need to picture the whole staircase and not kid ourselves we are at the top when we we're not even half way!
Interestingly, your comments also made me think that people (me definitely included) tend to do the 'outward ethics' (fairtrade, recycle, big-in-your-face save the world stuff) quite easily but when it comes to treating eachother with respect we fall massively short of what is required if we believe we are all vessels of the divine spark (which I do believe).
I wonder if there ever really was a time when people believed every interaction with the world was sacred and behaved accordingly... I'm not sure but I guess these problems would be hugely reduced if we could apply that philosophy today. Or perhaps as a species we are beyond this turnaround? I don't know.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't think jewelry is a moral issue and I think it is WAY over thinking to consider that, especially if you are discussing it on the internet, on a machine made of far more resources than my wedding ring.

I don't know enough about this technology to reply to two quotes in one reply (sorry, dumb-me) but I think what Rowanwood said about worrying about something trivial like jewellery when on a computer is completely right. For me, the computer is a concious and very uncomfortable sacrifice I make in my ethics to allow me to work from home and home-school my kids: It's perverse I know. And listen to me whining to defend it! (Oh! But I'm not that bad, I have no mobile, no car, no TV, no blah,blah,blah....pathetic I know!) And I don't have to be on here now do I? It's bad, but in order to stay sane I have to keep that 'one step at a time' mantra and just keep slogging up that wooden hill.

[LaneyM]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

As a pantheist, I tend to break things down to find the answer to questions such as these. Why do humans wear jewelry? There are different reasons;

1) Because they need to be noticed. Humans have always vied for alpha position and today it is hard to stand out in a crowd. Many people turn to putting ornaments on themselves to do just this. Is this a spiritual use? Maybe, if the person feels the deities they are working with are ignoring them or if they belong to a group that does some sort of battling for the alpha position then it would be a spiritual use. Other than that it is probably more of a "look at me" thing going on.

2)Because it is a status symbol. My mate is better than yours because he can provide me with a larger diamond. I am more successful than you because I have more ornaments for myself. My rap show is more successful than yours because I can afford the large gold chains. People are drawn to successful people and jewelry may be how some show off their status. Is this a spiritual use? Not that I can see, but maybe if your deity is...no, actually I can't see any spiritual use here.

Again, I am a pantheist so I am against mining as well. I believe that not only the whole is sacred but the individual is as well. So if you are sick with a bacteria, you should take an antibiotic to kill this virus so that you will live. I don't just shrug and say, well, if you die, nature will give us other humans to take your place. The same with all life, replacing one life with another is only acceptable if it is to maintain your life. As we all kill to survive. But to just put ornaments on our bodies, I can't see this as being spiritual at all. I can't see the sacred all or the sacred individual thinking that a human's wish to stand out in a crowd is more important than the individual that will be destroyed because of it. If there were gods I would think they would probably be shaking their heads at our vanity.

I saw a gold mine in Montana ad just to see the property rights that were violated because of it or the eco-system that was destroyed, or the animals that died because we humans like our ornaments. If the gold is removed for other reasons that may be important I would study the value of this, but just to make ourselves into a human Christmas tree? I feel we should be able to reach a moment in our life where we stand out because of what we do and not what we drape on ourselves. No, I see no spiritual use in this.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

I wonder...

...if nobody ever used things that came from the earth, what value would they have?

("value" is an expression of utility)

[volcaniclastic]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

I wonder...

...if nobody ever used things that came from the earth, what value would they have?

("value" is an expression of utility)

Take diamonds, for example. That pretty, shiny rock sitting on the fingers of thousands of brides, is actually just super-heated carbon which was subjected to a metric shit-ton of pressure at extreme depths within the earth's crust. It found it's way to the surface at a geologically alarming rate, through the pressure and explosion of a kimberlite dyke (FYI non geos: that's where diamonds come from). If it rose to the surface slowly, it would have transformed back into carbon long before we saw it, but because of the sudden nature of its arrival on surface, diamonds exist in metastability. This means, that even the diamond in your 1 karat solitaire engagement ring will eventually, over time, retrograde back to carbon (coal, essentially).

Doesn't actually sound that special, does it? But because it's sparkly, and shiny, and a little bit hard to find, boom. Worth something. Money.

Schist, though? Schist is worth, well....schist.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

And now the off-color diamonds are selling for as much, if not more, than the clear ones...

... chocolate diamonds, anybody?

(they used to be industrial quality)

[MaskedOne]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

Diamonds have one or two practical uses, they're use in a number of drill bits for one.

What in the world is schist?

[Rowanwood]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

Schist is a rock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schist





I think its easy to sit back in a warm house and talk about being "against" something, yet be surrounded by the fruits of it. I think, as rule, most people have no idea what happens to create the things they use everyday. It's easy to be self righteous when you don't know where your stuff comes from...but without mining, we would have almost no metals at all. Tell me how you'd get through the day without any metal, or plastic for that matter, since those are created from petroleum...or wood, since I'm sure logging is bad too. Oh, or bricks, made from clay we mine out of the ground. Or roads made from concrete or blacktop or even gravel, also mined at a quarry. And forget plumbing (clay toilets and plastic or metal pipes.) Or electricity (mostly fossil fuel or nuclear from ..mined fuels) Oh and no fur or leather, because an animal would die.

So mud huts and caves and veganism and nudity it is. Enjoy!

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Is jewellery a spiritual / religious issue ?

Actually, I've bumbled into a few people who say it's 'bad' even to pick up shells off the beach.

I figure they must be naked...
... but I don't want to know for sure...