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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Spirituality & Beliefs > Spiritual Development

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  #41  
Old 18-03-2019, 07:46 AM
Altair Altair is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziusudra
Yes, Buddha was a prince and wealthy. But his spiritual quest and questions started after he witnessed the human sufferings.
So, he was like a modern day peace corp volunteer or missionary worker or mother Theresa.
Reality of Buddha's life journey is sketch at best. We don't really know how his life actually been like.
His enlightenment started after he left all his material possessions and social standings, including his family. - as this is the passage of even today's Buddhist monks.

Let's face it. Most humans are not Buddha, ok?
There is a reason why Buddha is still remembered and followed after 2500 yrs.
So, we can not use Buddha as an example of rich for this argument.

Key being he got there but not without the context of understanding wealth. He did not have to chase wealth and basic survival needs because these were a given..

If you are in wealth you are more likely in a position to question and having the time for these pursuits. Most poor people have to struggle with the basic necessities on a daily basis. As modern people we’ve just upgraded the concept of “being poor”, now lower midd class people throughout much of the developed world call themselves poor. It just shows how far humanity has come..

Buddha also isn’t unique in having been a teacher from a wealthy background..
It’s rather common, with many priests having come from rich families, guru’s from brahmin families, etc.
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  #42  
Old 18-03-2019, 08:52 AM
God-Like God-Like is offline
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Francis of assisi apparently renounced his wealthy status and even gave away the shirt off his back .. then went in solitude for years fasting and such likes before coming back out into the world with his purpose in toe ..

Perhaps the more you have at times the more you try and hold onto it .

When you have nothing to hold onto or nothing to lose one is perhaps receptive to the inner self or to God or whatever word suits ..

I suppose this also reflects the difference between a mind that is busy and cramped with mind stuff and a mind that is relatively empty ..

When the mind is empty and uncluttered there is obviously more peace at hand and where there is peace what you are is known..



x daz x
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  #43  
Old 18-03-2019, 06:36 PM
iamthat iamthat is offline
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The drive towards spiritual learning comes from our development in previous lives, not from our bank balance.

Poverty does not automatically make someone seek spiritual truth.

Having money allows us to enjoy material comforts and be grateful for them, without necessarily being trapped by them.

Having money allows more freedom of choice, including the freedom to help others and the freedom to choose how to spend our time.

Material wealth and spiritual enlightenment are not mutually exclusive.

Peace.
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  #44  
Old 19-03-2019, 12:57 AM
FallingLeaves FallingLeaves is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Altair
Key being he got there but not without the context of understanding wealth. He did not have to chase wealth and basic survival needs because these were a given..

If you are in wealth you are more likely in a position to question and having the time for these pursuits. Most poor people have to struggle with the basic necessities on a daily basis. As modern people we’ve just upgraded the concept of “being poor”, now lower midd class people throughout much of the developed world call themselves poor. It just shows how far humanity has come..

Buddha also isn’t unique in having been a teacher from a wealthy background..
It’s rather common, with many priests having come from rich families, guru’s from brahmin families, etc.

and exactly what good has all this activity done for the world?
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  #45  
Old 19-03-2019, 07:40 AM
Altair Altair is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FallingLeaves
and exactly what good has all this activity done for the world?
I don’t what you are talking about!
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  #46  
Old 19-03-2019, 07:44 AM
hallow hallow is offline
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I would think being financially wealthy would make it harder. Money can buy physical things but that's it. I wouldn't consider myself a hard core Christan person but in the Bible gives a good example of this. Jesus Christ himself was extremely poor. He was born with the world against him, and look what he became. Money can make things easier but the easier something is to achieve, often times it's just that easy to forget or not to know the real meaning behind it
There's a really good but weird movie to watch that uses this same idea. It's called Charley and the chocolate factory. The movie is definitely different but really good.
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Last edited by hallow : 19-03-2019 at 12:20 PM.
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  #47  
Old 30-03-2019, 05:43 AM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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When we look at the deceptive-yet-blatant ways that corporate money grabbers grab money, the rich are totally oblivious to it because the "sky's the limit" when it comes to paying more money just to remain in the same zone of comfort.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than Pay TV companies and internet service providers who will progressively downgrade an existing service and the contents thereof (planned obsolesence), forcing you to pay more for a "better service" which is exactly what you started off with in the first place!

They do this by introducing advertisments every 10 minutes to your once uninterupted service...and now you need to pay twice as much for uninterrupted service...which only lasts for a short time before a "tier system" is established...the more one pays, the less ads and the greater bamdwidth they get..

Now, the rich people will go "here is a thousand dollars a month to make SURE I have the fastest connection without any ads".

The poor people will go "screw you money -sucking leeches" and cancel their internet and go read a book instead.

Of course, this comes about because Youtube is now pausing content every 10-15 minutes requiring a manual restart to FORCE people to pay for their Premium Edition so they don't have to keep doing it!

The easiest way to make money? create an annoyance that will be removed for a fee, when the annoyance didn't need to be there in the first place.

I am over this.
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  #48  
Old 30-03-2019, 10:23 AM
Petey Petey is offline
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Quote:
I am a middle class student and I have no choice but to study and establish my career so that makes it impossible for me to become enlightened.

I'm not so sure about this. It seems you are already going in the opposite direction of enlightenment. If enlightenment is dependent on having a career, then it's not really enlightenment.
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  #49  
Old 30-03-2019, 09:10 PM
iamthat iamthat is offline
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Quote:
I am a middle class student and I have no choice but to study and establish my career so that makes it impossible for me to become enlightened.

Why create these limits for yourself? Yes, unless we live in a monastic environment or a cave then we need some kind of income to deal with the practicalities of physical life, but this does not preclude spiritual progress.

Are you saying that if you had enough money in the bank so you did not need to work then you would devote all your time and energy to the pursuit of enlightenment? If your desire for enlightenment is so strong then having to earn a living would not be an obstacle, it would just be part of your dharma.

You must have some spare time outside of study and practical stuff. How do you use those free hours? Do you spend your free time in meditation, spiritual study and service? Or is your career an excuse to avoid spiritual commitment?

Peace.
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  #50  
Old 31-03-2019, 09:59 PM
Akira Akira is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thespiritual1
I will explain three reasons of my foresaid opinion.
1. A rich person will have more exposure to life as compared to a poor or middle class person. He can do all kinds of things in life. He can do stuff that the poor people do but the poor can not do what the rich can do. So basically a rich person will have a greater experience of life than the poor. This will give him a better and satisfied mind, unlike the poor. Such a mindset will be more meditative than the unsatisfied mind of a poor.

2. Maslow's Heirarchy: A person first needs some basic necessaties such as food, shelter, safety. After that he needs love, affection, acceptance in society. In the end, when he has everything, he looks beyond this world towards spirituality. Simply put, a rich person is most likely to be interested in spiritualism.

3. I say this from personal experience that I would like to sit and meditate in a room where no one disturbs me but I am unable to do that. I dont have the time to do that, nor do I have the place. I am a middle class student and I have no choice but to study and establish my career so that makes it impossible for me to become enlightened. Only if I was a rich person, I would buy a place and a refrigerator and I would store a lot of food in the refrigerator and then I would sit down to meditate for as long as required and then I am hopeful I would become enlightened.

What are your thoughts about the relation between wealth and enlightenment?
Also share your analysis of my opinion. Thank you.

I have not read everyone's responses as there are tonnes. I would say that actually it can be the reverse, having nothing can force a sense of spiritual on the person.

This is why many spiritual seekers denounce their wealth, their status, power, families etc in order to seek enlightenment.

In some ways because wealth can afford us all that glitters, we become distracted and unable to connect to the deeper self, which is the connection within.
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