It’s
a pity that when we talk about wealth, we almost
exclusively think about money and material possessions.
Yet this is only one way of being wealthy.
We have
two sides to our being: the body, and the mental
or spiritual—the outer and the inner.
And both must be cared for. If we neglect the
body and do not feed it, it will die; if we
neglect the spirit, it will dry up.
In a materialistic
society, the emphasis is on external wealth,
and the result is that we are out of balance
with ourselves. One Master said: "What
shall it profit a man if he gains the whole
world, but loses his own soul?"
Looking on worldly
wealth as a liability and a burden, the same
Master said: "It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven",
and exhorted people to sell their possessions
and give their money to the poor. The poor would
then be poor no longer; who then, would they
pass the burdens to?
In itself—like
a knife on the table—material wealth can
do nothing; it depends upon how it is used.
Without it, how would it be possible to help
the starving in Africa, for example? Such use
of material wealth is a manifestation of spiritual
wealth.
Worse than being
poor is to think you are poor, for then you
have condemned yourself to poverty. A person
who knows of the Way must consider himself rich,
for was not the Buddha the richest man in the
world, without a single cent? A person of few
wants and needs is rich, while one of many desires
is poor. |