And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. [Romans 12:2.]

To many of us, wealth represents a source of social independent and freedom. Without wealth we feel constrained to conform to behavior not particularly desirable.

In the media, in social environments and even in church, our consumer driven institutions teach us to accept practices that conflict with our religious, moral and ethical affirmations. We are asked to conform to lifestyles alien to our nature and we readily accept them, destructive as they may be.

We convince ourselves that conformity is essential to success and we adopt behavior established by material marketers promoting an ultimately secular reality. Not only do we accept the tendered lifestyles but we strive to rival and surpass our peers in possessions and affluence.

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.

Man’s merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches. Take heed that your words be purged from idle fancies and worldly desires and your deeds be cleansed from craftiness and suspicion. Dissipate not the wealth of your precious lives in the pursuit of evil and corrupt affection, nor let your endeavors be spent in promoting your personal interest… Guard against idleness and sloth, and cling unto that which profiteth mankind, whether young or old, whether high or low. [Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets].

We measure success in our modern business community by profits, returns on investments, capital growth and similar objectives. Being successful means that we have accumulated significantly more material wealth than the average person.

We tolerate eccentricity in business – as measured by our peers – only when wealth has been accumulated. Otherwise, we require conformity. Thus, material success also becomes a source of perceived freedom from self-imposed constraints, adopted with our short-term perception of existence.

Without wealth, the nearsighted fortune seeker feels obligated to conform to the behavior of those surrounding him. He creates his own chains, then hopes to make enough money to be able to remove them.

Beautified in the eyes of the people is the love of desires they covet: Women and sons; hoarded treasures of gold and silver; horses well-bred (for blood and excellence); and (wealth of) cattle and well-tilled land. Such are the possessions of this world’s life; but in nearness to Allah (God) is the best of the (life’s) goals. [Qur'an 3:14]

Ironically, a response to the fear of losing material possessions is to accumulate even more wealth. We reason that the more wealth we accumulate, the less likely it is that we will become impoverished.

As we gather fortunes, we seek greater fortunes. Accumulation of wealth, possessions and material objects eventually becomes an end in itself.

Our primary objective becomes possessing material objects. We redefine our goals and reinforce our dependence on material security. Ultimately, acquiring wealth replaces other sources of satisfaction.

Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living . . . And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. [Job 28:20-28 KJV]

The fear that the mind perceives for the physical body and for accumulated possessions is magnified as the body weakens with age. Our efforts to preserve our health and safeguard our material existence seem to produce only additional anxiety. As we increase our reliance on the products and safeguards offered by our transient reality, we become increasingly immersed in the very transiency that creates fear.

If we acknowledge only a secular reality, a material existence without spiritual, divine aspects, we cannot envision a solution to our fears other than in physical safeguards. If our efforts are directed only at developing material protection, ultimate security will elude us.

However, when we cultivate reverence and awe of the Divine, equanimity, security and peace emanate from a transcendent reality in which the rust of material possessions and the decay of physical existence pose no threat. Our thoughts are now channeled through the filter of Divine mercy where hope supplants anxiety and faith replaces fear.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy upon men: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them; this is vanity; it is a sore affliction  [Ecclesiastes 6:1-2]. 

The intolerance of the intellect, despising ignorance and disdaining the plebeian, ensconced in its exclusive cognitive vestibule, inaccessible to the simple, or so it thinks. Sadly this is the state that keeps us from transcending material reality and knowing the Truth.

Much of today’s material wealth is a product of advanced technical and scientific developments. These advancements are themselves products of specialized mental activity.

Decreased physical activity frequently accompanies such specialized mentality. As we train our mind, we tend to neglect our physical body. Relying on our superior intellect, we no longer think it necessary to be physically stronger than our rivals.

As physical attributes become de-emphasized and the intellect tries to compensate, we generate a constant imbalance. To assure continued survival and prosperity, we give added attention to developing the mental attributes that contributed to our initial success. As a result, the ability to feel secure from physically attack to person and property is further diminished and even greater stress is placed on the intellect.

Our mind continues to experience fears for its physical reality and for the material possessions accumulated to safeguard a positive existence. We magnify this fear as the body continues to weaken.

The mind, therefore, feels obligated to take drastic steps to enhance the physical safeguards available to it in the reality it perceives. Its efforts are directed at developing material protection. This requires physical resources: more wealth, advanced technology, greater security.

The Lord preserves and guides. He wields adversity as He pleases, producing and relieving anxiety. He strikes us lightly to correct, remind and test. No fear prevails where there is true Faith. Peace. Tranquility. Equanimity.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also [Matthew 6.19-21].

The accumulation of fears frequently accompanies the accumulation of wealth. We fear that possessions will be lost, that comforts will become hardships, that those without will commit violent acts to take away our wealth.

Accumulation of wealth frequently requires the accumulation of instruments of security. We seek to buy freedom from anxiety by spending a considerable portion of our resources to protect the wealth we have accumulated.

Perceiving only a secular reality, a material existence, our earthly thoughts cannot envision a solution for our fears other than physical safeguards. Our efforts are directed only at developing temporal protections, transient security. We feel no confidence in our safety and find no rest in our peace.

. . . the Holy Spirit gives man the power to resist the delusions of the world so that although he makes use of earthly good, yet he uses them as a temporary visitor, without attaching his heart to them. But a man who has not got the Holy Spirit, despite all his learning and prudence, is always more or less a slave and worshiper of the world [St. Innocent of Irkutsk, Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven].

One attains peace, within whose mind all desires dissipate without creating any mental disturbance, as river waters enter the full ocean without creating any disturbance. One who desires material objects is never peaceful [Bhagavad Gita 2.70].

A strong economic order requires a stable social environment in which to function. Secular fear on the part of the business community inhibits commerce. Divine trust in the Almighty Creator produces confidence, harmony and the mutual understanding, necessary items for peaceful economic progress.

Without trust in the Divine Creator, extreme cyclical disharmony, social friction and physical conflict manifest themselves. Submission to God’s will anoints the society.

You cannot destroy the passions on your own, but ask God, and He will destroy them, if this is profitable for you [St. Anatoly of Optina].

He who gives his wealth to purify himself, and confers no favor on any man for recompense, only seeking the Face of his Lord the Most High; He shall surely be satisfied [Qur'an 92.18-21]

Know that charity purifies your wealth. So, filter your possessions through gratitude from the impoverished. Scour what you cherish with appreciation from the needy. Polish your treasures with thankfulness from the poor.

What you have thus given is now preserved. Moreover, you have diminished the anxiety your feel about losing your wealth.