The Spirituality of Money

Finally, I found a bit time for myself to read, write and blog on this errand-filled Saturday. I have chosen a place which serves alcohol and here I am typing out these lines while taking sips from my cool pint of draught beer. 

It hasn't rained today--yet--and I'm here savouring the good vibes of a pre-Christmas weekend. As I've mentioned elsewhere before, this is the best time of year. It's like you've finally arrived at your destination after a long flight and the plane is taxiing gently down the runway.  It's the happiness of arrival, of coming home or escaping from it.

All spiritual teachers will tell you that bliss is your natural state. Happiness is finding that inner peace within. It is of course, easier said than done. We spend our entire lives chasing external happiness or attempting to show others we are 'happy'. 

We think that happiness comes from acquiring more things and being recognised for our worldly achievements.  I don't disagree. One needs to go all out and fight the good fight, for only in doing so would one be able to understand the kind of satisfaction that worldly success brings...and the pain of losing it.

Once you've acquired material success, you will realise that it is not easy to let go of it. You are forever 'handicapped' by your need for luxury and comfort.  Acquiring riches is only half the story; the other half is keeping it. In the movie Wall Street, the character played by Daryl Hannah, the trophy girlfriend of the protagonist, Bud Fox, played by Charlie Sheen, said: "When you've had money and lost it, it can be much worse than never having had it at all".

Money is not evil. It is actually a great teacher, even a spiritual one. To acquire money, you usually have to go through a lot of hardwork and pain. But once you've had it, you'll realise that what you thought was sufficient, actually falls short.  There's always someone who earns more than you. So you want more, for being just rich among the super-rich is equally or even more painful than being poor among the rich.

If your wants are only ever to increase--a fancier car, a bigger house--then you'll never ever come to a point where you'll consider yourself rich enough. One can become rich easier by pursuing it from both ends. How? Continue making more money and at the same time reduce your wants.

If you have a car now, can you learn to live without one? By reducing your material needs, you grow spiritually. You have less attachment to things and are not affected by their absence. This is enormously liberating. It's like sprinting towards the finishing line to find that it is also advancing towards you!

Turn your pursuit of material success into a spiritual one by using it as a tool for understanding the pain of attachment. Be grateful for the blessings of wealth, if it happens to come your way. But most important of all, take it as a means to an end. By going all out to pursue riches, you are facing all your spiritual obstacles head-on. The path to enlightenment is paved with money.  Just watch out for the potholes!