An attitude to life which seeks fulfillment in the single-minded pursuit of wealth -- in short, materialism -- does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited. -- E. F. Schumacher
Every time I read that quote in Easwaran's "Words to Live By," I hear a faint uh-oh. I get a glimmer of my "single-minded pursuit" of the moment...of anything...as the makings of my transitory God. (That is the God of my understanding when my ego-wants edge out my desire to know and to do God's will.)
And yet, today I'm caught by a deeper uh-oh: An ego-want of mine cannot fit into this world of mine because it does not contain within itself any limiting principle. Ego has no limitations, spiritual or otherwise...which brings to mind, "I want what I want when I want it."
It matters not how high-flying we make our ego-wants sound...say, to love and be loved...underlying, it is all about me...me getting. If we truly wanted to love and be loved, we would love, starting with "our enemy as our self." And there's another uh-oh!
That's the essence of spiritual growth...when we see for our self that we cannot do it on our "want to" alone, and we know it is to laugh. And we begin to love our very own self in that laughter.
Thank you.
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