Cleanliness, Order, and Progress

Cleanliness, order, and progress (in that exact order) are not just necessary attributes, but also, play a big role as principal components of training. Being clean is not just a good virtue but a necessary mental and or a spiritual state of mind which sets the stage for “order”, and without order there is no “progress” or development——not at least a meaningful one.

How you feel inspired, how you perceive problems and difficulties, how you focus, how anxious you are, and numerous other mental states are affected by cleanliness as “one of” the major bedrocks, associated with order and progress. Obviously there are other variables as well, but what we are discussing here cannot possibly be ignored. Moreover, numerous studies have been done on what we are discussing here. Cleanliness, and even the visual stimulation of the cleaning itself have proven to decrease mental clutter and thought-racing phenomenon associated with anxiety and other mental states. It has been observed that the act of cleaning itself “attenuates the effects of stressful events” in most life-struggles.

Those who train in martial arts or wish to develop a high capacity in their fighting skills cannot ignore the healthy essential patterns of cleanliness which is one of the prerequisites in building “order”, which eventually leads to “progression”.

“…cleanliness and refinement, exalt the human condition and further the development of man’s inner reality.”

—‘Abdu’l‑Bahá (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, p.129)

Sources:

Allen A. P., Kennedy P. J., Cryan J. F., Dinan T. G., Clarke G. (2014). Biological and psychological markers of stress in humans: Focus on the Trier Social Stress Test. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 38, 94–124. doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.11.005.

Lang M, Krátký J, Shaver JH, Jerotijević D, et al. (2015) Effects of anxiety on spontaneous ritualized behavior. Curr Biol. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.049.

Lee, S. W. S., Millet, K., Grinstein, A., Pauwels, K. H., Johnston, P. R., Volkov, A. E., & van der Wal, A. J. (2023). Actual Cleaning and Simulated Cleaning Attenuate Psychological and Physiological Effects of Stressful Events. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14(4), 381-394. doi.org/10.1177/19485506221099428.

McMains S, Kastner S. (2011) Interactions of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in human visual cortex. J Neurosci. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3766-10.2011.