Rich in what sense?
For the sake of the discussion below I am assuming you mean material wealth.
Winning the lottery may give you financial freedom but it seems to me that
the financially replete are no more likely to be happy than those who have
nothing. This is one of the greatest misconceptions of our time though
western society, built as it is upon a bedrock of commercialism, has a very
great deal of vested interest in conditioning us to believe it to be the
case. After all, once we have been conditioned in this way, we are well on
the way to filling corporate coffers that sell us commodities we want rather
than need. Thus those that sell us the goods to become happy become rich
(and happy?!) at our expense. The conundrum spins on .
Making people feel unhappy, insecure and fearful is a great way of
persuading them to buy something they don't need in order to fix it, thus
fulfilling the corporate creed of profit. If having bought "it" you still do
not feel happy, that is because you lack something else, so that if you buy
just one more, you will surely then be happy, or at least happier than you
were yesterday but hopefully not quite as happy as you could be tomorrow if
you bought something else . or maybe you just need two of what you bought
yesterday ;>)
I too have been a victim of this "wealth trap", always wanting more than I
had, until I began to realise that for me personally, there is no relation
whatsoever between material wealth and happiness. Whilst I, like the rest of
us I suspect, enjoy the feeling of security that accompanies "enough"
(whatever that may be), I see no empirical evidence that "rich" people are
happier than those that are materially poor, and to expect them to be so
falls into the trap of the materialist delusions of so-called "civilised"
nations. My own experience tells me that quite the opposite may be true. On
my travels around the world I have had the good fortune to meet a number of
people whose living standards by mainstream European values at least would
be called "poor" at best, perhaps even uncivilised, yet more unconditionally
happy, compassionate and spontaneously generous people you could not wish to
meet. Quite why this is so may deserve further discussion but to my mind
there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to suggest it is true.
Fine; "But what has all this got to do with Zen?" you might appropriately
ask!
Irrespective of financial wealth, there is a state accessible to most (I
would like to think), where we can feel at the very least content and at
best allow happiness and joy to flourish. Through a certain amount of
self-analysis, I have over the years had the pleasure of witnessing a
profound change in my perception of the world in which I live; indeed, I now
believe that I actually create that world. In order to achieve this, I have
managed to strip away the conditioning of my past to find underneath a
spontaneous and joyful appreciation of life that has to date been
suppressed. "So what did you find?" you might ask, or perhaps, "what
psycho-emotional construct did you build?" Well actually, I found nothing
and I built nothing since in truth I believe I have done nothing other than
"let go". Please correct me if I am mistaken, but it seems to me that this
approach is also at the core of Zen and the non-grasping mind. To arrive at
your true nature you do not have to "build" anything and you do not have to
look anywhere other than in your own heart; it is already there; to find it,
just let go.
Superficially, material wealth may indeed buy you certain freedoms in the
physical realm, but who was it who said:
"There is only one freedom of any worth whatsoever - that of the
mind." (though to the purists, perhaps that should be freedom "from" the
mind ;>)
So to those who buy endless lottery tickets, may I recommend a few moments
of quiet sitting?!
Ga$$ho!
DC
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of Al
Sent: Monday 12 December 2005 10:12
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Zen] Should Rich People be Happy?
Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Nietzsche, Buddha, all had one thing in common.
They were rich. They were wealthy and influential men. So why were they
unhappy? What was their problem?
I have often wondered if it isn't the most incredible insult to humanity
that even when it comes to being unhappy and unfulfilled, some rich guy has
to be the major authority on the subject.
Don't the poor get anything that they can be the experts on? Shouldn't rich
people be obligated to pretend to be happy? It is not something that anyone
can enforce, but it seems to me that there should be some kind of rule that
whiny rich people should be disqualified from writing books, philosophies,
or religions about their spiritual growth. Rich people should be
automatically presumed to be happy and lacking the ability for spiritual
growth.
Only the poor have the right to be unhappy, and they should be the only ones
who can grow spiritually.
Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi
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