It plagued me, it chased me, it haunted me, and yet, it eluded and evaded me. 

Come, oh Prudence — Come, oh Reason — Come, Temperance — Come, Kindness — Come and chase away the Tyrants, those Horsemen that have taken your rightful place in the thrones of the hearts of man — 

Overrun are we! Overrun, are we not? Overrun are we by bombardment of the senses, any and everything to distract from what’s within — 

I meditate to break free of the cycle — I meditate to break free of the imprisonment. Conditioned have we become to need, need, need — no — always want, want, want, for more. 

An entire civilization built on the backs of suffering third world countries that I am complicit in. I am an accomplice, I am part of the problem. What am I to do? What am I to do? What am I to do in knowing that the clothes on my back were forged by impoverished hunched over backs, and so was the coffee in my cup, and so was the cup? What am I to do in knowing that I am the sky that the Atlas that third-world children are support? What am I to do? 

I know not. What I do know is this:

It still plagues me, it still chases me, it still haunts me, and yet, it no longer need elude and evade me. 

That vision of my youth. That vision of truth. 

Of simple living. Of wanting and needing being, at last, reconciled in sacred marriage. That alchemical conjunction of two things that should not be opposites, at last meeting in centre again. 

There is so much that needs to be chopped from my life. Is that Saturn’s scythe coming for the chaff I’ve gladly munched on and hoarded? I only need a few morsels of wheat, but have clung for more, more, more. 

I meditate as a gradual step. I meditate to make the statement that for, at least 20 minutes, I don’t need to be stimulated. I don’t need to be consuming. 

To live simply is to simply live. 

I want less. I want to be happy with less. I want to expel the sickness of this country, the spirit of Manifest Destiny never having left our bellies, needing ever-more. We are an imperialist civilization through and through, taking and conquering more than we need through consumerism.

If I learn to be okay with having less, the infinite abundance of my spirit and heart will pour fourth, all that I need to be happy residing therein.