"Simplicity is a goal people universally have sought across time, but this urge has intensified as human society has become more complex, more industrial, more technological, and much more impersonal. There must be more spiritual abundance in life, if only we could slow our pace and teach ourselves to get along with less materially. This theme resonates in the desert. The ancient parchments known as the Dead Sea Scrolls — perhaps more accurately labeled the 'Secret Scrolls' — contain a terse admonition: Embrace the wilderness; hold to your bosom the desert experiences of your life. Keep them close to you. Learn from them. It is a deep and recondite irony; for only in the experience of lack do we learn the secret of abundance."

To Practice: Consider what experiences of lack in your life have shed light on the true nature of abundance.

Kenneth Hanson in Words of Light: Spiritual Wisdom from the Dead Sea Scrolls