Happy Sunday!
A common theme has been coming up in conversations and media I follow – money and those spiritual leaders who are getting wealthy from their followers. I saw a Youtube video the other day about the distribution of wealth in the USA and it graphically showed the way we, the public, envision the distribution of wealth versus how it is actually distributed, with 1% of the population having vast amounts of the wealth, I think it was like 40% (view here) . This had me thinking about if the very wealthy are helping others with their money. (I even prayed that they would become conscious so they could voluntarily share their wealth.)
My husband and I were discussing a new spiritual teacher, Panache Desai, and how his life must be a whirlwind after appearing on Oprah two weeks ago. Peter said he didn’t think it right that spiritual teachers were getting wealthy. I said I wonder what they are doing with their wealth (again hoping it is going to good) when I remembered Oprah. I told Peter I know what she is doing, she is putting her money into a network to spread spiritual thought.
This must be subject in the collective conscious as Mastin Kipp wrote about it the other day on his blog “the Daily Love”. He was justifying the promotion of Gabby Bernstein’s business course as he had comments from readers saying that he had gone commercial. This is all of interest to me as I do think “what ifs” about an abundant future. (I wonder if I overcame my fear and shared my writing if I too would be on an affluent path, a girl can dream!)
So back to the subject of correctness of wealth in the spiritual community – well who better to have it really? Is it better for the planet and society to let the current model of success be the lucky/ingenious/diligent individual who comes up with the next great widget continue to be the model we all strive for. More material items that we don’t need to bring extreme wealth to those who may not have the inspiration to use the wealth to advance humanity. I would rather spend my money supporting the work and teachings of a conscious loving “sacred activist” who will use my dollars to spread love through the species and, with the added benefit of my learning and growing. The things I learn will be with me throughout my life (perhaps for all eternity) versus some widget that will be thrown away in the garbage (I probably won’t even use it enough to justify the cost).
James Redfield, in his “Celestine Prophecy” book series, envisioned a future where the truths of human and spiritual existence are being revealed by word of mouth as “the powers that be” certainly wouldn’t support promotion of the knowledge that can changes all human perception of economic and power systems of the modern world. He says people who can teach this information to others are of value and should charge for their teachings so that economics moves away from materials things to services we can do for each other.