The Power Of Reading

I was in my early twenties when
I first had fantasies of being a monk,
little realising how much my family
made such a fantasy attractive
whilst cutting off the possibility
of any such idea of a life.

I read many books, much to my family
disapproval: they watched a lot of television,
where I preferred to consume music instead. 
Televison was controlled by the government,
and the provisions of  the family life I knew
bore all the echoes of life under the duress
of rationing, whilst with the music that I found,
the albums for sale in junk shops and woolworths,
there may well have been  and absence of thought
but I saw less sign of externally applied limitation.
.
It was through one of the books my family disliked
that I read about the three knots on the waist ropes 
that Franciscan monks tied their tunics with,
and about the simple elegance of understanding
of what each knot meant in relation to the vows
the monks took to a maintian a singular dedication.

In fhe days of cloth hankerchiefs
it was common to tie a knot in one corner
of the square to remind the owner of something
that was meant to be remembered, later. 

So it was with the three knots in a monks
waist ropes, the first was to remind the wearer
of their comitment to celibacy, the second
to remind the wearer of their promise to poverty
and the third know to remind the wearer
of their commitmen to humility through service.

As a summary reponce to the temptations
that the world offered how the reminder
was built into their clothing appealed to me.
The title of the book that explained all this
was, quite simply, 'Money Sex and Power'. 

The book remains in print, and has its place
in social media where it is still read today.
The author, Richard Foster, cut through
many unecessary arguments for the reader
with his logical explanations for how
presentations of money sex and power
can be simplified, to improve how life is understood.

Although Christian in intent,
atheists can adapt Foster's logic
to resist the pressure of certain
sales pitchs, when they want to.