So You Want To Be Rich
It is pretty hard to tell what brings happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed
-Kin Hubbard 1868-1930
Let me set your minds at peace from the onset. There is absolutely nothing wrong with material possessions. If for any reason you despise possessions and you are here with me hoping to get reinforcement for that point of view, then I am afraid I am going to disappoint you.
Image courtesy Emdot
We very definitely need possessions to be able to function in the world. If you have no money, no house, no means whatsoever and you are doing nothing to get out of that situation I will tell you that you are nothing but a destitute. Never mind that you have the goodwill of a group of friends or congregation or whatever that look after you. You are a glorified beggar and certainly a burden if these people were kind enough to tell you the truth.
Also if you despise possessions for no discernible reason or perhaps in reaction to past failures or frustrations and have arrived at the comfortable conclusion that it is better not to work too hard or maintain healthy aspirations then you badly need a shrink (not a guru please).
But if you have a good job or business and you are able to meet your NEEDS and know it within you that you are happy the way you are but you still feel you ought to do more then please DO this: DO NOT CHANGE A THING.
One of the greatest tragedies of modern existence is the grab-as-you-can philosophy that has now transformed into a movement driven by the army of American self help propagators and prosperity preachers who have now spread their tentacles the world over so that there is hardly a nation today (including very poor ones where some of these prescriptions can never work) that you will not find these people, extolling the virtues of mammon, and causing so much disenchantment and confusion, because having distorted the normal course of the human race there can be no other results.
You may end up amassing more but it always happens at an opportunity cost; because you can never get everything you WANT no matter the techniques you employ. Human existence could have been worthless if it were so. Life is so much more than the race to ACQUIRE that it is now being made to become.
There is no greater calamity than lavish desires
There is no greater guilt than discontentment
And there is no greater disaster than greed.
- Lao-tsu (604BC-531BC)
Does it not make you wonder, how with every extra dollar (or whatever your currency is) you make your wants increase?Do you not find it curious that after you have set a financial target for yourself you reach it and suddenly it is no longer enough, because if you can afford the Ferrari you can as well aim for a yacht?
And when you achieve this it is now a gulf stream you want, you get it and all that is left for you to be happy are properties in exotic locations across the globe, getaways you can retire to from time to time to escape the pressures of regular society.
This also happens but still there is a void within? If you dare to worry the gurus are quick to assure you it is healthy. In fact you should aim for more. What you feel presently is redundancy. A mind busy making money should not succumb to the trap.
Perhaps you need fresh challenges to rekindle the spirit. How about walking on fire or jumping out of airplanes? Good idea and off you go. And guess what? The void still remains.
Perhaps you are the “average” person with a job you have no problems with or a thriving business that gives you time to pursue nobler objectives, like raising your kids or community service or even spiritual growth.
Then someday you come by one of these damning literature or listen to a “coach” who tells you you deserve “more” out of life. You are successfully brainwashed and all of a sudden your great five figure annual income is no longer good enough; settling for that when there is so much more money to be made out there is being “average”.
You become an early riser, you exercise everyday, carry paper chips in your pocket with various affirmations you must do well to consult every now and then so that you become what you have written down.
You smile at everybody like an idiot because a genial disposition is a great part of this new walk, because you have to have a good spirit. You even experiment with a new diet regime to demonstrate your strength and discipline.
Your family and friends now see less of you because you have to be careful about your associations so that you are not influenced by the less ambitious.
You are now a DETERMINED and FOCUSED fellow.
Perhaps your income rises to the six or seven figure bracket. And now what?
Those who face that which is actually before them, unburdened by the past, undistracted by the future, these are those who live, who make the best use of their lives; these are those who have found the secret of contentment.
- Albert Goodier
You only need to look closely to see the folly in the unbalanced pursuit of wealth all around you.
Stories of tragic millionaires abound, stories of people who were great souls until they decided to be “rich”.
I do not know if Mother Teresa would have had the kind of acclaim she still has had she owned the world. And I bet if you look around you you will find a family or two who with their “meagre” income are able to attain a standard of living worthy to be proud of.
If you belong to this category I urge you not to be ashamed of your contentment. The world would have been a better place if people asked themselves simple questions like who really am I?
The answer to this question would put all the self help gurus and commercial preachers out of business because we will not need them anymore. A life that is not centred on contribution is a crooked race. And you know what? We all are not supposed to contribute money! We have even seen enough of miserable philanthropists to know this.
Before you begin the revolutionary lifestyle that will bring you all the wealth you crave please stop and ask yourself, what do I need the world for?