Wearing fine clothes,
Bearing sharp swords,
Glutting with food and drink,
Hoarding wealth and possessions -
These are the ways of theft,
And distant from the Way. [Tao Te Ching]

Wealth is at once a source of security and also a source of anxiety. We can buy food, clothing and shelter. We can also hide behind our wealth and obtain many privileges and advantages.

However, wealth can produce a constant state of fear that our possessions will be lost, that our comforts will become hardships, and others will take from us what we possess. In our efforts to protect and preserve our property and lifestyle, we often neglect the Divine Reality and thereby lose our equanimity.

Wealth, accumulated in significant quantities, requires its own protection. To safeguard it, we rely on additional physical resources, even on military armaments.

Freeing the individual from fears and helping him/her transcend this transient reality is a primary role of faith. Without the Divine Presence in our lives, we are left holding a decaying carcass and a worthless storehouse of rust and stubble.