There’s a story about a spiritual teacher who had a fine collection of prisms that hung across an expanse of windows in his living room. A student cleaning the windows knocked down the whole lot, and they smashed to bits on the floor. The student was terrified and distraught. The teacher came in, saw what had happened, paused for a moment and then laughed. The student was astonished. “It’s all right,” the teacher said. “I had those for pleasure, not for suffering.” Cheri Huber When You’re Falling, Dive
After reading this, I made of copy of this page and had it posted on the wall near my desk. I looked at it often as a reminder of how easy it is to get wrapped up in my ‘stuff’. The more we have, the more we have to deal with, protect, worry about and loose. There is nothing wrong with having nice things - it’s the attachment and identity we have around those things that can be cause for concern.
We all have our nicer clothes, dishes, jewelry etc that we ‘save’ to use on a special occasion. My life does not have too many special occasions anymore, so I’m a fan of using them now. Pull out the fancy china for dinner tonight, wear the dressy jewelry to go to the store. The thought of waiting to use something makes less and less sense to me as I get older. If not now….when? I don’t want to miss an opportunity to truly enjoy what I have.
After reading this, I made of copy of this page and had it posted on the wall near my desk. I looked at it often as a reminder of how easy it is to get wrapped up in my ‘stuff’. The more we have, the more we have to deal with, protect, worry about and loose. There is nothing wrong with having nice things - it’s the attachment and identity we have around those things that can be cause for concern.
We all have our nicer clothes, dishes, jewelry etc that we ‘save’ to use on a special occasion. My life does not have too many special occasions anymore, so I’m a fan of using them now. Pull out the fancy china for dinner tonight, wear the dressy jewelry to go to the store. The thought of waiting to use something makes less and less sense to me as I get older. If not now….when? I don’t want to miss an opportunity to truly enjoy what I have.
