Chapter 26 Wealth for a Purposeful and Fulfilling Life.
It is often said that money is not everything, but have you ever tried living without it? You may have to go back 1,000 years, to the days of hunting and fishing. The truth is, if you are poor you have more or less failed as a human being, and the birds and bees have outmatched you! Besides, when you are penniless, you cannot help others and crown your life with a noble purpose. You may even be some kind of burden or parasite to your family and friends. Boileau wrote, „Money gives an appearance of beauty even to ugliness; but everything becomes frightful with poverty. Wealth, on the other hand, attracts more wealth, and nothing succeeds like success. The more luxuries you have, the more you can pamper yourself, your loved ones and others towards greater success. You help others indirectly, through the money you spend, creating demand, jobs and profits. Things multiply, as mentioned in Chapter 16, you prosper further when you add to prosperity.
I must clarify however, that money is not the only asset. It only provides part of our needs. There are mental and spiritual resources, moral and character riches, which lead to contentment, peace and happiness. B. Tapie, the French industrialist said, „Lack of money is a cruel deprivation, while, past a certain point, an excess of money means nothing. Money is only needed up to a saturation point, beyond that it should go towards helping others. Life is only a brief passage of some 70 years, so you must enjoy it to the fullest, and do your best to improve your life and the world.
You must first strengthen yourself, before you can empower others. When you have achieved success, you can have all the facilities, freedom, fun, friendships, feasts, and all your favourite things. You can have the best house, car and boat, and enjoy the great outdoors and frequent holidays with your family and move first class. Your home will be filled with flowers, books, magazines, hi-fis, laser-discs, pianos, electronic keyboards, aquariums, a swimming pool, a gym, a little zoo in the garden, and all the things you fancy. You will control millions of dollars of business. You will be robust, radiant, healthy and contented. You can then work towards bringing good to others, and life would be truly meaningful. I visualise my charitable foundation, which amasses and allocates funds for the poor and homeless. There will be revival and motivation for the weak; learning and training for the underprivileged. Let us all work towards that goal. Wealth is wonderful, a great blessing; it adds to comfort, enjoyment and freedom. It provides gifts for us to give away, it is magical. Lets not have wealth with waste, or money without meaning, or prosperity without purpose!
Since ancient times, various religions have stressed the importance of the „tithe money. This refers to the 10% of our earning, meant for God, the church and society. It is believed that in doing charity, what we get will be more than what we give, and the response will be better that the action. In the process, we foster generosity and love - the most divine virtues. We should always do these things because we genuinely want to make others happy, not because we want anything in return.
Those who have not learned the noble gesture of sharing are missing something, because true happiness becomes complete only with the act of giving. Furthermore, by sharing our wealth, we tend to make others stronger and more productive, consequently wealth multiplies, and we are bound to gain in return. Even if we do not, does it matter? We already have ample riches, would we rather have our surplus resources idling and decaying away?
Roy Rogers, the American millionaire film star and philanthropist constantly thanked God for his bounties. He was generous to everyone, especially children. He said, „The big reason for my success is that the kids remember me in their prayers. Andrew Carnegie, the great American industrialist, also donated much of his vast fortune in the early 1900s. He commented, „I acquired my money through the efforts of other people, I shall give it back to the people as fast as I can... These days, many movie and sports stars, prominent musicians, models and entrepreneurs are giving gifts and money to the needy; they include Celine Dion, Oprah, and Whitney with her Whitney Houston Foundation and scores of others. This blossoming trend of „doing things for others is wonderful. After all, the rich have so much to spare, while the poor could do with some amenities. We would have lots of Christmas days on earth.
I could not agree more with G. A. Orndorff when he said, „No one can become rich without enriching others. Anyone who adds to prosperity must prosper in return. Nobody can truly reach a high degree of enduring success without love, respect and co-operation from others, and without helping his fellowmen. Let us all enjoy wealth and in return, make our lives worthwhile by giving something of value to society. How could we settle for anything less than success? Our prosperity will benefit our loved ones and numerous people; our poverty will help no one. Success is our perpetual duty because there are always others needing our assistance. Now let us move on, and make the most of our lives - the most precious things in existence.
"I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, rich is better." - Sophie Tucker.
"Those who pretend that money isn't everything in life are usually broke." Malcolm Forbes.
"Whatever you give comes back to you." - Estee Lauder.
"Our success in life depends entirely upon what we do on this earth for our fellowman." - Price Daniel.
"Put giving first and getting takes care of itself. The generous prosper. The selfish don't." - Anonymous.
"He that does good to another does also good to himself; not only in the consequence, but in the very act of doing it; for the consciousness of well-doing is an ample reward." - Seneca.
"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." - J. M. Barrie.
"God doesn't look at how much we do, but with how much love we do it." Mother Teresa, India's great relief worker.