Handmade crafts marketplace Etsy‘s blog The Storque highlights one of their vendors, Zeke, who recycles glass bottles and makes them into glasses, carafes, and planters. Zeke seems like a great example of living Right Livelihood. To Zeke, Right Livelihood is “earning a living without doing harm to people or the environment.”

But by reading the interview, I gleaned that there’s more to it than just that for Zeke. Sure, he’s taking glass that would otherwise end up in landfills, and converting it into useful and beautiful glassware. But he seems deeply aware of interdependence, a key concept when considering Right Livelihood. Recycling is a core practice of his business, from his bottles to his packing materials. And he’s very aware of the impact he has on the world around him.

When asked what he enjoys about his business, Zeke says, “I enjoy being able to use my time and talents to help others. I like
being able to work on unique projects for people in my community, like
organizing the First Friday indie Market, or donating glasses to local
charities, or making custom pendant lamps for a local
environmentally-conscious hotel, or having the time to volunteer for Sustainable Greensboro, a local environmental organization.”

As Thich Nhat Hanh says in The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, “To practice Right Livelihood, you have to find a way to earn your
living without transgressing your ideals of love and compassion. The
way you support yourself can be an expression of your deepest self, or
it can be a source of suffering for you and others.”

How great is it that Zeke, as a craftmaker, is able to find a way to do just that, to make a living with a great degree of mindfulness, aware of his impact in the world, the inherent interdependence of his existence, expressing his own creativity while caring for others. And Zeke’s work, his choice to make a living mindfully, has an effect on the world around him beyond the concrete. TNH again: 

“A composer, writer, painter, or performer has an effect on the
collective consciousness. Any work of art is, to a large, extent, a
product of the collective consciousness. Therefore, the individual
artist needs to practice mindfulness so that his or her work of art
helps those who touch it practice right attention.”

Thanks, Etsy, and thanks, Zeke, for sharing this inspiring example of Right Livelihood with us! Anyone else out there have great examples of Right Livelihood to share? Please comment below!