Matthew Henry John Bartlett

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Saturday 24 July, 02004

by Matthew Bartlett @ 7:09 pm

Said Thomas Merton

The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we might prefer to people. Wherever things have become more important than people, we are in trouble. That is the crux of the whole matter.

(in a recent Daily Dig)

5 responses to “”

  1. Lynton says:

    Very challenging thought, especially when CDs often take up a lot of my time, money and thought.

  2. yvonne says:

    well said.

    sometimes my relationship with music takes over my relationships with people. i think it’s because i have lost the sense of spirituality in my relationships with people with the pressures and restrictions of everyday life(commodity culture, space, worldly responsibilities). music seems to connect more. and then somebody makes profit from it.

  3. Deborah says:

    I like things that remind me of people: a photo of us with a message they wrote on the back, a surprise gift, a letter, something they made for me, a souvenir from a day out together. “Sentimental value”, when the value attached to an item is oriented towards a relationship with a person or memory, is underrated and not a silly thing. I think, anyway.

  4. Matthew says:

    Yeah it is nice when all the things around me gradually get non-comoditised, aquire histories.

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