The god of small things

May 25, 2024 6:27 AM

I'm wondering if there is a name for the concept that looking after something small can help cultivate your desired qualities on a larger scale.

I was idly thinking back to a cute miniatures collection I saw at a nice café. They'd displayed teeny tiny things like ketchup, mayo, hot sauce, etc. like this.

That somehow got me thinking about worshippers looking after religious statues. I'm most familiar with Japanese jizo, the small stone Bodhisattva figures who are given red hoods and clothing by travelers, but I'm also thinking about Catholic statuary. Though from my cursory reading it seems like coming away feeling peaceful isn't the main purpose for taking care of these figures, it seems like a major benefit to me.

Then that got me thinking about taking care of pets to help cultivate playfulness, unconditional love, and joy on a larger scale. Daily meditation to cultivate equanimity. We have bite-size rituals and practices to try to embody our desired behavior, I think because bite-size is as much as we can manage and/or because it's more sustainable.

Are there words/phrases for this concept of the small helping embody the large? It doesn't necessarily need to relate to caretaking; that was just what sparked this whole train of thought. Sorry that this is a bit hand-wavy; it's a free association morning!

posted by charcoals to Religion & Philosophy (19 answers total)

Best answer: I’m not sure this is what you’re looking for, but I’ve always placed this under the category “What we water grows.” Cultivating these attributes in the miniature is how we help them to thrive.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:47 AM on May 25

wabi sabi, perhaps
posted by HearHere at 6:48 AM on May 25

Best answer: "Think global, act local" fits, as does "microcosm".
posted by sagc at 6:57 AM on May 25 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Check out Allalae, the god of small comforts, as presented in the Monk and Robot series. Not an exact match, but similar, and the books are pretty fun and very cosy regardless.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:10 AM on May 25 [2 favorites]

Best answer: This is tangentially related, but your title made me think of it. There is a beautiful story on tumblr about how the small is important called It's God of Arepo. There's a comic as well.
(warning - it absolutely makes me cry every time)
posted by platypus of the universe at 7:58 AM on May 25 [11 favorites]

Sympathetic magic?
posted by corey flood at 8:28 AM on May 25 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Maybe "a practice", as in "I see [caring for animals/tending my garden/meditating] as a practice". To me it suggests an ongoing, steady activity that maybe isn't not about progress, but is not about quick progress, accepts that some ideal will probably never be reached, and finds value in the regular small steps themselves.
posted by trig at 9:18 AM on May 25 [1 favorite]

There’s always Wellington's remark that "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton."
posted by jamjam at 12:38 PM on May 25

Best answer: adrienne maree brown talks about fractals and emergent strategy in similar ways:

How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale. The patterns of the universe repeat at scale. There is a structural echo that suggests two things: one, that there are shapes and patterns fundamental to our universe, and two, that what we practice at a small scale can reverberate to the largest scale.

posted by lapis at 12:43 PM on May 25 [2 favorites]

Practice.

Practice is exactly this: you are doing a simplified activity, or a smaller easier project, or using a less difficult mechanism, or examining a basic, well-understood example of an object. The simplification lets you focus on a subset of the skills or qualities you'll need to master in order to succeed with fully detailed, fully complex versions of that thing.
posted by amtho at 1:21 PM on May 25 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I think what you want is "attention" but that's a broad word. Look at the writings of Simone Weil, L M. Sacasas, and Jenny Odell.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:25 PM on May 25 [1 favorite]

There's also this from Hillel the Elder: "Whosoever destroys one soul, it is as though he had destroyed the entire world. And whosoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved the entire world."
posted by trig at 10:29 PM on May 25

Best answer: Your question made me think of the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. A man is going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted them with money (which in those days a unit of coinage was called a talent) and then went away. To one he gave five bags of silver, to another two bags, and to another one bag of silver. The first servant doubled the five bags and gave his master back ten. The second servant doubled the two bags and gave his master back four. The third servant took his bag and buried it for safekeeping, and gave that one back to the man. The first and second were rewarded greatly while the third was punished. Sermons are often built around this passage of Scripture with regard to proper stewardship of money and other precious things. Perhaps the concept you are looking for is stewardship.
posted by eleslie at 6:45 AM on May 26

Best answer: I believe Marie Kondo learned her philosophy of gratitude and care of everyday things when working at a Shinto shrine.
posted by Enid Lareg at 8:13 AM on May 26

Best answer: There are some verses in the biblical book of Luke that seem to pertain.

Here's Luke 16:10-12 from the King James version:

16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12. And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

Or, in the New International version:

10. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
11. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
12. And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

To answer your question more directly, I've certainly heard the phrase "being faithful in little things" used among Christians.
posted by orange swan at 11:28 AM on May 26

Best answer: more on attention available from systematics. John. G. Bennett's spiritual psychology, which is dated and out of print, but there's some gems in there.

"The way we we do one small thing is the way we do everything."
posted by j_curiouser at 3:23 PM on May 26

There's that proverb? phrase? "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." But I don't think that's quite what you are asking. : )
posted by bitterkitten at 7:24 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

"Take care of the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves."
posted by MiraK at 6:39 AM on May 27

"The quality of your experience is determined by the focus of your attention." – Zen teacher Cheri Huber
posted by Lexica at 4:09 PM on May 28