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Wealth
[ 4 minute read ]
There is one thing you cannot accuse me of; and that is greed. The shopkeeper in my village shop is a Buddhist, in the same sense that someone in the UK who believes in God is a Christian. That last phrase only works, as it is, in an area of the world that has been traditionally Christian for centuries; or for agnostics, in countries that have been wallpapered with a belief system that likes stained glass windows and rules.
What I mean to say is; the shopkeeper wants to be on the right path to achieve enlightenment, but he has a duty as a husband and father. He, I am sure, does not savage his mind with regret or ‘What if…’ questions. Yet, I could not help but think that he was jealous when I told him, ‘You can give me a million pounds and I would buy a little island to get away from everyone once in a while, but I will never make my workers earn the money for me to be able to do that.’ Surprised, he told me about 'arhats' who have achieved enlightenment. He shouldn’t be jealous, if he was; I am not special, I am simply not greedy. I have had enough money to buy whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted; not cars, yachts, and houses; just no budget. Many of my customers thought I was wealthy. That comes down to attitude and composition of behaviour. I suppose there was no sycophantic wheedling to ease any contract through to pay a specific bill. My attitude was, ‘We are going to do this my way. I am the one with experience. I don’t need money.’ I think that is the effect that one can expect to be evident in wealthy people. I suggest it is, in reality, confidence and self-control while recognising one’s own financial security and solvency; especially solvency.
The shopkeeper was a little stunned when I told him that despite having had money, I have never had more than one thousand three hundred English pounds of ‘free money’; recoverable cash from all my efforts in my entire life so far; or if I had ever cashed my life in for money. If I had sold my assets, such as houses, cars, furniture, and so on, the amount I would have ended up with, in cash, would have been only 1300 GBP once I had returned my position to where it was before; living in a furnished house with a car and a job. I told him that often my bank balance would exceed 600,000 GBP, but it was never a liquid asset. I suppose he had never looked at wealth and money that way before. i don't know; just speculating.
The shop assistant, behind the counter, looked at me with interest. I suspected she had savings that totaled more than 1300 pounds. She didn't say anything, but almost blurted,
‘Really? Is that all? I am nineteen and have more than that!’
I couldn’t be bothered to explain that, in all likelihood, it would take all her savings to set her up in a similar position to living at home with her parents, if she were to leave home. She has savings because she has security. To buy that same security is expensive. Her shop assistant wage and her savings would be insufficient to replicate it.
I didn’t say it, but thought, ‘No, you really don’t have more than that. Ever penny you have is in an escrow account as a contingency amount. You can’t spend it because you are not yet in control of your own security.’
Maybe she didn't almost blurt anything. She might have no money at all.
So when Antonia, in 2010, said to me, ‘You are really wealthy aren’t you?’ and I had only about 800 GBP in the bank, I said, ‘Do you mean money?’
‘Of course, is there any other kind of wealth?’
‘Absolutely! Love, confidence, friends, freedom, to name just a few.’ I returned.
She didn’t pursue it because she still thought I was rich and a bit interesting too. But then she was studying to be a psychiatrist at the time, so that flies.
I never thought that I would ever tell a Buddhist that he possibly had to learn about money in his current life but might still reincarnate to learn other stuff, and I was simply learning in a different order. I couldn’t help it; he looked so crestfallen that for all his concerted thoughts, he had not achieved the same position as the person standing before him, a non-Buddhist, had. That really isn’t the case though. I am no better nor worse than him. I understand living hand to mouth and homelessness. I understand exclusion from family gossiping sessions because I have concrete values, that to me are righteous. I understand how I became the recipient of consequent backstabbing, whenever I was not there to defend myself. I understand why I never defended myself, if it meant accusing someone else or apportioning blame. I knew that the accused would be gossiped about. My mantra was, and still is, 'Talk TO me, not ABOUT me.'
The most important attribute I have, is my striving to be honourable and to have integrity in everything I do. I am still learning, but, yes Antonia, I am wealthy. I am also not greedy; despite valuing it so highly, I do not want your honour or your integrity.
'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' (Matthew 6:19-21, NIV of the Bible). A person's time, attention, actions, and energy will be focused on whatever they value above all else.