The role of the Wealthy in the path to Enlightenment

So if you were seeking a path or enlightenment and stood before you two people one who had always been wealthy and one who had always been poor; and you had to choose one for advice on spiritual enlightment who would you pick?

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
So if you were seeking a path or enlightenment and stood before you two people one who had always been wealthy and one who had always been poor; and you had to choose one for advice on spiritual enlightment who would you pick?

Neither, your only going to achieve spiritual enlightenment on your own. Who gives the wealthy man or poor man spiritual authority over you? The answer is you

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
So if you were seeking a path or enlightenment and stood before you two people one who had always been wealthy and one who had always been poor; and you had to choose one for advice on spiritual enlightment who would you pick?

Pick the one who has spent more time in spirituality and has more experience.

Money is easy to earn and keep but spiritual wisdom is hard to earn.

Mathew 19:24
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

No amount of money or material things will help. The human condition of feeling separate, feeling like there is something missing, feeling lost, always seeking something better, looking for something to take the pain of life away is not cured with money. The human condition is to not feel good enough and shame is felt in being divided.
Only when wholeness is realized will this go away.
I totally believe that one must suffer before the break happens. Even the very wealthy will suffer from false beliefs so there is no one more or less likely to realize the truth. It is when you give up on life and are willing to die that it all changes.

Because you are divided, you divide the all, into rich and poor.

A rich man cannot enter the kingdom because he believes that he is a 'separate man'.

reply to post by AthlonSavage


Do you believe that a person born wealthy does not have confidence issues? To be unsure in this existence, to feel uneasy and not feel at home, is what makes life feel painful, it is what makes life heavy. I am not sure what your 'idea' of enlightenment is and I am not sure you do either because if you did then you would not worry that you made the right or wrong choice when choosing a guru. You are trying to make a choice depending on how wealthy they are, you are judging with the mind instead of listening with the heart.
You do not know who to trust. You do not know truth so do not recognize truth so are trying to see if they are genuine by how much money they have.

The message is spoken but instead of hearing what is said people go off and analyse the speaker, assumptions are made by the mind about the person they believe the speaker to be. And you are then lost in thought and lost in beliefs.
This is why truth cannot be told - the teller can speak clearly but the hearing is obscured by the mind (thoughts and beliefs already held).

reply to post by Carreau

Of the issues a wealthy person has, most are probaby had by average& poor folk too. It's the lack of experiences which the middle class & poor endure that makes a lifelong wealthy person (possibly) less credible in the realm of "life experience". If the wealthy person intends to be a stratified guru, limiting their exposure to solely the wealthy upper crust, there's even more of a farce, if their life advice pretends to transcend their lack of life experience
.

I am a working class dude. However, I think that being wealthy has the same cycle suffering. Jealousy, lust, hunger, greed, and stupidity are all too common to all people. If you are wealthy, you may experience these sufferings in a different form.

I think it comes rather naturally to think that one, who is endowed with a legitimate wealth and abundance has gotten there by an effort that perhaps even spans multiple lives.

I also think that, if you consider your self not as wealthy as you'd like to be there must be a reason - either karmic or educational.

When I find my self going through lows, I find my self learning very important, non-trivial lessons. Not the "value of money" kind, but ones about understanding, tolerance, patience and love.

And while wealth allows one to express the love and help outwards, it seems that if own health, body and mind is not kept in check, no wealth will make You happy.

Wealth can be gained by knowing poor people.

Feel sympathy for those born to wealth. They are being tested, life after life, and some still may never get it. Only until they willingly walk away from the temptations and greed for Earthly wealth, will they be free. From then on, they'll never have to be born rich again - their soul is free to learn other important lessons.

Those who are always chasing after wealth are on this same path, to ultimately make the same realization.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


I dont really have an opinion one way or ther other. I proposed this subject for discussion because it was a theme that got raised in another thread and thought be great for a thread.