Philosophy of Dishwashing.

The Religious Peace scholar at the Catholic University of Korea, in the "Window from the Ark" column of the Catholic Weekly, offers a philosophy of dishwashing.

Cook, set the table, eat, tidy the table, wash dishes, knead dough, bake bread, eat together, wash dishes, make soup, slice kimchi, set the table, eat rice, wash dishes, cook ramen, wash dishes, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, in the morning and in the evening…

Cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning. These are tasks that are immediately noticeable if not done, yet go unnoticed even if done diligently. They are not things to brag about. Outside of the family, there is rarely any praise for doing a good job. It is a draining task when even family members remain indifferent.

This is especially true for the dishes that pile up every day. You can skip cleaning for a day or two, but you cannot let a day pass without washing dishes. Cooking is a meaningful activity that brings thanks and nourishes others, but washing dishes is simple, repetitive labor that elicits little reaction from those around you and becomes tedious.

However, if you do not do it, you cannot cook or eat, and life itself becomes impossible. Even if you do not want to, you cannot avoid doing it. Whether at home, in a church, at the Blue House, or at the Vatican—wherever people live—it must be done, yet its true meaning is obscured, and treated as menial labor. Is washing dishes also a way of building the Kingdom of God?

Philosopher Graham Harman proposed a theory called "object-oriented ontology." While this may sound like a difficult concept, it can be summarized simply as follows: Humans are not the only subjects; all beings are objects to one another; humans cannot fully grasp all objects; every object possesses an inherent depth that defies boundaries and holds a cosmic dimension that infinitely expands its boundaries the more it is perceived; and every object perceived by humans transcends that perception, moving endlessly into a deep abyss.

Dishwashing. Every single dish, the object of this action, can serve as an example of this theory. Just when one thinks dishwashing is a task confined to the kitchen, it extends beyond it; just when one thinks it takes place in the kitchen across the street, it connects to someone's work life, effectively becoming part of human survival. Just when one thinks it is the task of cleaning up "food waste," it leads to conversations at the dining table, connecting to family relationships and broader human connections. In this way, dishwashing recedes beyond the kitchen, expands, and extends into an endless abyss, and connects to the entire universe. Dishwashing becomes a cosmic act and event.

And that is not all. It extends endlessly into the world of dish soaps, surfactants, pH adjusters, fragrances, moisturizers, and preservatives. The coffee drunk after a meal, the stains left in the cup, the African sun and soil, the sweat of the coffee roaster, and the fossil fuels of the transport ships.

Leftover kimchi juice, the highlands of Gangwon Province, large trucks, and midwinter asphalt, a delivery worker's winter clothing, someone's survival, and livelihood. A cup of coffee travels as far as Africa, while kimchi juice spilled on the table connects to the cabbage fields of Gangwon Province and the hands of farmers, reaching all the way to the sun. Boundaries expand endlessly.

Washing dishes is a process of converging the chain of cosmic ties (Many) intertwined with a single cup of coffee, the hands washing the dishes, and the cool stream of water right here and now (One). It is an event of "Many within One" (One in Many) as described in Buddhism. It is a small act taking place in the kitchen, yet it is also a monumental event that connects to the universe and recedes. It is a practical example of "Many within One." The religious worldview that "the whole is within the one, and the one is within the whole" is dynamically realized within the dishwashing basin. The repetition of daily life, bordering on meaninglessness, becomes a cosmic sanctuary.

Food scraps and clean dishes, impurity and purity are not two separate things. The act of wiping away the dirt from a single spoon becomes the principle of life. The cosmic truth contained in the smallness—in Buddhism, this is referred to as the state of "one is many, many is one" and "unhinderedness in all things." Wisdom that penetrates without hindrance all things and phenomena throughout time and space. 

In this way, washing dishes in a small kitchen becomes, in the language of Buddhism, the world adorned with flowers. 

Is it not the Lord’s world where “a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day” (cf. 2 Peter 3:8)?