3: Spiritual Wealth
Define "spiritual wealth" Other Information:
The path to prosperity also spurred a new question about wealth and well-being. Yes, poor people obviously need more money,
but to what end? As they move out of their previous situation and onto the spectrum of wealth, we come into all sorts of questions
about how much wealth is enough for us to feel happy. Are we going to feel happy when we are in the far end on the spectrum,
or are we going to feel more happy when we are in this other end of the spectrum, or is there somewhere in the middle that
we need to work towards? Where does fear of falling into poverty lead to greed? So there was a shift from a place of quick
blame -- it's the corporations; it's the rich who need to change; the tax code needs fixing -- to inner conditions and solutions
within ourselves and other's inner lives: that the root causes of growing wealth and poverty come from people's inner sense
of fear and manifest as greed. It is fascinating how our perception of wealth and value motivate us in different ways. Home
ownership or material possession often becomes a goal in itself, in order to feel that you have something. We now have Land
Lords where previously we had feudal lords. The entire way that our economic system is set up is based on scarcity and ownership,
making money off of someone else's labor. When we're talking about change, we're not just talking about mandating a "living
wage" but completely redefining "work". What does "one hour" mean? Why is an hour of one person's life more valuable than
one hour of someone else's? We're talking about an hour of someone's life. These questions appeared to be in the intersection
of the economy as a system and our worldview, our spiritual life. Scarcity and abundance don't necessarily come with our income;
scarcity and abundance are also about spiritual values vs. economic values. If we want to create change, do we need to focus
on the former or the latter, or do we need to pay attention to both? Is there perhaps some totally new concept emerging to
replace the two and help us turn the fear and greed within us and the scarcity within our economy into universal abundance?
People need different morals, more humanity, connections with others, community and spiritual connection. So what would be
the definition of "spiritual wealth"?
Objective(s):
|
