Subtraction

Something I want to ponder in 2008 is the following:

In Four Steps to Wisdom:

You don't have to do anything to acquire happiness. The great Meister Eckhart said very beautifully, "God is not attained by a process of addition to anything in the soul, but by a process of subtraction." You don't do anything to be free, you drop something. Then you're free. 

                                                         Anthony de Mello quoting Meister Eckhart

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It does seem as if our natural instinct is to want to "Add To" our lives more stuff - more of everything we feel like we don't have or did not have at some formative stage of our lives.  More toys, more money, more attention, power, respect, love,  food, clothes.......you name it.  God knows we wear ourselves our accumulating.

But what if "Subtracting From" our lives really made us free?  What if we already have absolutely everything we need to be free and happy but for the stuff we have to step over and go around?  What if Mother Teresa was right and I could become convinced that the western way of life produces dire poverty of spirit?  What if I had the courage to refuse to run out to Target three days before Christmas to get gift bags, tissue paper and crackers? 

I will ponder these things in 2008, but since I have not yet acquired wisdom, I'm headed out to do some last minute shopping.