If we decide that we want new furniture in our living room, we understand that we must get the old furniture out before the new can be put it. It can't just be stacked on top of the old. Likewise, if we are a one-car family, we understand that we will trade in our old car when we decide to get a new one.

    The same is true when we want to change ourselves, especially if we want to change spiritually. If we want to become enlightened and we want to serve God and help bring about His plan, we can't do it while clinging to our old material life. That doesn't mean that we must give up our old life completely, that we must quit our jobs, sell our cloths and wear sack cloth, etc. It means that we must stop clinging to that old way of life.

    A hot air balloon may have sufficient hot air in it to start rising, but it still won't if it is tied to the ground. On the other hand, you don't want to just cut it loose and let it drift off with the hope that it will take you where you want to go. You have to control it, allow it to rise slowly, and direct it's movement so it goes where you want it to go and isn't just blown about by the air currents and winds.

    You can keep your jobs (provided your not something like a drug pusher or a hit man), keep your warm house and your nice clothes, but you must make those things secondary to your quest for spiritual awakening and enlightenment. You can only serve one master. You need not tell Satan, “Get out of my life and take all of your material junk with you!” (he wouldn't listen anyway), but you do need to tell him, “Get behind me Satan!” meaning that the material life and the pursuit of material things become very much secondary to your spiritual quest.