Meditation on Living Free from the Prison of Consumerism to Love More

I read recently people in the U.S. work more hours per week, take less vacation, and retire later in life than the citizens of ANY other industrialized nation.  Why is that?  I think it’s because we’ve gotten confused as to what matters in life.  Ads, books, movies, magazines, TV shows, and so much more YELL to us life is a game.  Our culture says our purpose is to win it by earning money, owning homes, buying things, obtaining prestigious positions, looking young and fit, and so on.  These are ALL good things … but NOT what life is about.  Life isn’t a game, it’s a GIFT.  Our purpose here isn’t to win, it’s to LEARN to LOVE.

I think Albert Einstein was getting at this when he said these rich words: “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

You see, I think life is SUPER simple, it’s about connection and Love.  Today, I invite us to live FREE from the prison of consumerism to love and be loved more.