Page 32 - Taming Your Gremlin A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way (Rick Carson)_Neat

name of “spirituality.” He made clear to Michael that to have nice things
was materialistic and that materialism took him off the path to spirituality,
and not to be spiritual was very bad. According to Baba Rub Adub, having

only necessities was spiritual, and spiritual was good. In one of our early
sessions, Michael let me know in no uncertain terms that he didn’t buy into
the “more is better” myth. (Except, of course, that more poverty was
apparently infinitely superior to less poverty.)

Michael’s gremlin had him caught up in the worst kind of materialism:
spiritual materialism. I think gremlins that inspire this style of living are
among the most dastardly, because they misdirect the souls on which they
labor from seeking the truth within themselves, instead getting them caught

up in the accoutrements of spirituality. Spiritual materialism is no different
from what we usually think of as materialism. Different trappings. Same
trap.

The Grim Reaper

Dorothy was 34 when our paths crossed. She was married and the
mother of three children. Her lifestyle resembled a modified version of the
Father Knows Best television series of the ’50s. Her living situation looked
to others almost exactly as she intended. When I met Dorothy she was

spending her time taking her children to school, cleaning house, going to
the grocery store, watching television, and suffering almost constant, barely
tolerable emotional pain.