Wealth is not necessarily immoral

The value of clear, documented and independently verified thinking is quite valuable. It can even be worth millions of dollars. This is why Jim Rohn wrote and said that "to make a fortune, change your philosophy."

Here's a simple example of how deep thinking can clarify one's understanding.

Many believe that "materialism" is bad, that accumulating material possessions is somehow immoral. But is it, really?

There are spiritual masters who live in abject poverty but there are also spiritual masters and teachers who live amidst material abundance. How can we explain that? Are the second kind of spiritual teachers "fake" or insincere?

The key issue here is not whether "material abundance" is good or bad in itself, but the extent to which the person IDENTIFIES with his/her material possessions.

So a spiritual master / teacher who lives in a big mansion and drives expensive sports cars, might not be so immoral after all, if he/she does NOT identify with those luxurious objects but merely honors them as objects of beauty worth contemplating and using and having.

(Some people here might suggest that the rich person give some of his materials possessions to poor people, but that would reveal a misunderstanding of the nature of human experience. Poor people have the fundamental right to make efforts and to strive to obtain what they desire. A rich person who gives money or resources to a poor person, would basically be saying: "I don't think that on your own, you can make it. So I will give you what you cannot obtain through your own personal efforts." Indeed, such giving would harm -- albeit at a very unconscious level -- the very self-esteem of the poor person. A few intellectuals have fully understood these psycho-dynamics and have striven to create legal structures and democratic reform that enable poor people to lift themselves out of poverty through their own efforts. Hernando de Soto is one such intellectual. You can read all about his heroic work to lift millions of poor people out of poverty in his book The Mystery of Capital.)

Another person, in the same situation, might identify with those objects of luxury and use them to build his/her ego by, for example, ostentatiously displaying them in the public view. Such a person could be said to be attached to her material possessions.

This discussion about material wealth and abundance is important because in my business workshops, I often encounter people who have a strong, often unconscious resistance to the idea of wealth. They somehow believe that wealth is somehow evil and that a person should not be wealthy or even rich.

This misunderstanding can cause a lot of suffering because whether we want to or not, money is the sixth sense which enables a better use of the other five. There's nothing wrong with money or wealth or material possessions as long as you don't identify with them and don't let them boost your ego (which is only a false self-image created by the mind).

I truly believe that if a person has a brain, he/she could become a millionaire.

So what is stopping people from becoming rich and financially free? Their own unexamined beliefs about wealth and money and material possessions. I recommend T. Harv Eker's book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, for anyone who wishes to clearly examine their own beliefs about wealth and money. If your beliefs are not clear, then your mind is clouded and you cannot possibly become rich or financially free in this life.

In other words, no matter now much you DESIRE wealth and financial freedom, your (mistaken) BELIEF will always stop you. It's like driving a car and having one foot on the gas pedal while the other foot is firmly pressing the brake! In such a situation, the car ain't going forward!

I say "mistaken belief" but in fact, there are no right or wrong beliefs. A person's beliefs is of her own choosing, so it is totally up to her. It's her prerogative to believe what she wants to believe.

However, it might be wise to examine one's beliefs and see whether they are helping one to reach one's goals or are, instead, hindering and blocking one's way forward.

Here's the success secret: Clearly examine your beliefs and refine them so that they become aligned with your desire. This is better than reducing your desire so that it "fits" your current belief system.

Desire is rarely the problem. People do know what they want (even if they may not always be able to verbally describe it). What's stopping most people from getting what they want in life, is the covert, unconscious, unexamined beliefs they have ABOUT what they want.