4. ‘Garbage-dump thinking’

I did this in the following manner. I let some stubble grow on my face, rumpled my hair and borrowed some old work clothes from a painter friend. Then I took a plastic bag and a stick and walked up to a garbage dumpster. I rummaged about with a stick in the garbage and came up with several empty bottles, which I put into the plastic bag, before proceeding to the dumpster at a neighbouring building. My efforts were rewarded. I had been at the second dumpster no more than ten minutes — fifteen tops — when I was virtually set upon by a man wielding a metal rod in his hands.

“Keep your paws off what doesn’t belong to you,” he said in a tone that brooked no contradiction.

“Aou’re saying that this is your territory?” I asked calmly taking a few steps back from the dumpster, at the same time handing him my plastic bag with the bottles.

“Whose else would it be?” the man replied, already sounding less aggressive than before. He took my bag and began raking through the contents of the garbage dump, paying no attention to me.

“Maybe you could show me where there’s some freebies around?” I enquired, adding: “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“White,” responded the unofficial owner of the dumpster.

I went to the store and picked up a bottle of‘white’ vodka,1 along with a few snacks. Over drinks we got to know each

uwhite’ vodka — clear, unmixed, ‘classic’ Russian vodka as distinct from ‘col-oured’ varieties of vodka (e.g., fruit liquors infused with cranberry, rowan- berry etc.) available on the market.

other, and Pavel shared with me a lot of the tricks of his trade, and believe me, there were quite a few.

You have to know, for example, what days especially to guard against ‘transients’ like me invading and pinching one’s ‘property’. Especially after holidays, when a lot of bottles get tossed out. It is also important to know which refuse materials contain base metals, and how to collect them — some dealers pay more for glass containers and base metals. And to know what to do with discarded clothing that’s still fit to wear.

I attempted to change the subject.

While Pavel was entirely capable of expressing his opinions on politics and the government, he did so with considerably less interest. He had a one-track mind — everything revolved around the dumpsters.

As a final conclusive test I suggested the following to him:

“You know, Pavel, there’s a chap building a house not too far away who’s looking for a security guard over the winter, as well as to help in the construction, for which he’s willing to pay extra. And supply groceries to boot. Every week his driver brings potatoes, onions and cereal. You’re a decent fellow — he’ll hire you. If you like, we can go have a word with him.”

After a few drinks, as might be expected, we had become friends. Which made the sudden sharp shift in his mood all the more unexpected. First he spent about thirty seconds in intensive thought. Then after staring at me another thirty seconds in a kind of standoffish silence, he finally came out with what was on his mind:

“You think I’ve been drinkin’ and not realised what’s going on? What’s all this business, creep, about me being hired as a guard, just so’s you can take over my dumpsters?”

He didn’t even ask what kind of wage a security guard might earn, or what kind of accommodations might be included, or

what kind of work, specifically, he might have to do for the extra pay His thought was completely concentrated on his dumpsters, working out the best way to take care of them and protect them from competitors.

So it turns out that this Man predetermined the course of his thought — deciding the questions of his existence on the basis of garbage dumpsters — and then followed the direction of his thought.

One could cite quite a number of other examples confirming the indisputability of the fact that the creation of all material objects, life situations and social phenomena is preceded

by the energy of thought.

One Man can influence another through his own thoughts. This is attested in ancient tales and parables. Here is what Anastasia’s grandfather had to say about the energy of human thought.

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