In Lesson 10 of my course, “Living @5: A Spiritual Course in Thought & Time,” I provide a plastic (teaching at the jail, so no glass bottles) “jar”  which contain three multi-colored velvet smiley face flowers (Photo Below)  Each flower represents a word foundational to the course:  Judgement, Attachment, and Resistance. Using the “Mason Jar” as a memory device, I focus students on the large “NON” written on the side of the jar. Then we read a quote from The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle: “Non-Judgement, Non-Attachment, and Non-Resistance are the three aspects of  true freedom and enlightened living.” (The Power of Now, pg 225).

In discussion, I underscore (1) that Judgement is ego centered and brings personal dissatisfaction. “Observe everything. Judge Nothing;” (2) Attachment is the desire to acquire, attach to that which we currently do NOT have. This desire brings personal dissatisfaction to the present moment; and (3) Resistance addresses the constant resistance we hold against the “present moment.” Most of us feel as if “this moment should not be.” But, because the present moment always IS, we are in a constant state of dissatisfaction.

Today’s meditation (12/30) from 24 Hours a Day addresses the Attachment part of JAR.

“People are failures in the deepest sense when they seek to live without God’s sustaining power. Many people try to be self-sufficient and seek selfish pleasure and find that it does not work too well. No matter how much material wealth they acquire, no matter how much fame and material power, the time of disillusionment and futility eventually comes. Death is ahead, and they cannot take any material thing with them when they go. What does it matter if I have gained the whole world, but lost my own soul?” (24 Hours a Day:  Daily Meditation for 12/30.  ©Hazelton Foundation 1975)

(Photo: “Living @5: A Spiritual Course in Thought & Time” © Perfect Brightness LLC 2013.)