Atlanta Unitarian

One of my most dearly held beliefs is that the soul is encumbered by the pursuit and ownership of material objects. I have long thought that having less and keeping life simple are important spiritual practices. But in fact, I do own an awful lot of things, more things than I can manage really. I live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. From this population, I would guess that I am in the top 20% of households income-wise. It seems that, without really meaning to, I have gotten quite immersed in stuff, both physically and mentally. I think there are all sorts of reasons for this, good and bad. I think we inevitablely measure "enough" by what we see around us. Our parents were happy to have a color television; we also want a DVD player, a playstation, and an iPod. It's almost like swimming upstream to detach from the material progress we are immersed in. A second reason, one less compelling to me but surely understandable, is the relationship between ow...

Here are three prayers I could use right now: 1) A prayer for when I observe someone fail to live up to their responsibilities, either to myself or to others. That is, for when other people fail to live up to my hopes and expectations for them, be they friend or stranger. 2) A prayer for when I feel estranged from someone. When I dislike what someone does or says, I tend to categorize them as "other" - less smart, less good, in some way less than myself. I want to reinforce for myself that those who are different from me are not worse, though they may make me feel uneasy. 3) A prayer for feeling frustrated and ineffectual as work. For spinning my wheels as it were. Any suggestions?