One afternoon, as I was enjoying a day of research in The Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, I came across a document in which Mrs. Eddy was noted to have instructed her students: “Having no preferences, you can be so absorbed in the divine Truth as not to think of anything else, you would be fed and clothed” (notes by Joshua Bailey, A12065, The Mary Baker Eddy Collection, The Mary Baker Eddy Library).
Until I read those words, I had considered preferences to be a good thing. “After all,” I thought, “they define who I am. My preferences show that I have sophistication and discerning taste. I understand why we need to give up traits such as pride, but there is nothing inherently negative about preferences—or is there?”
I decided to put Mrs. Eddy’s statement into practice. I wrote myself a note: “Divest oneself of preferences.”
