I just finished reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. This is a great book. I loved what it has to say about taking personal responsibility for one’s financial experience.
In thinking about this book, I began to look into myself and think about what motivates me. I realize that I came so close to falling into the trap of the “Rat Race”. One thing that I find difficult in avoiding the trap though is reconciling spirituality and materialism.
How do we deal with “greed”? In the book, the author prefers to use the milder term of “desire”, however, Buddhist philosophy teaches in the second (Samudaya) of the four noble truths that “There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (tanha).” If this is so, then the suffering that one feels in poverty is a result of one’s attachment to things that we do have and our desire for that which we do not. Interestingly enough, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” teaches that one must master one’s desires in order to gain the discipline needed to achieve wealth, and in achieving wealth, one no longer is in a place of unfulfilled desire.
I must admit that I have been very foolish when it comes to the accumulation of wealth, or more properly, the lack of accumulation of wealth. It is not that I have not had the intelligence or the information to make the appropriate choices. It may seem trite to state that I knew that Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Amazon, Yahoo and others were good buys or I knew when was the best time to sell Cisco or Sun. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, as they say. I could rightfully claim that it was fear that kept me on the side lines at some point or even laziness, but I feel that the greatest obstacle that I have had has been my desire for “things”, for the nice car or the great home theater system or the latest, most powerful computer. As I write this I’m sitting between two 15 year old speakers that cost $1500 a piece. I have to ask myself if that $3000 would have been better spent on Microsoft stock. I suppose that the answer is obvious.
With all of the things that I have accumulated over the years, there is really very little left. This is not just the result of a bad ten-year period in my life (though one could easily blame it on that). None of those things ever really had any value in the first place. Honestly, who wants a ten-year-old car anyway? It’s not new enough to be cool and not old enough to be a classic. I do not own a car now and I don’t really see the “need” for one. I would love to own a 1970 Chevelle SS, but that would be as much an investment as anything else.
Some how, I just don’t have the same desire for things that I once had, and yet I still want to accumulate wealth. The question for me is, is this greed? Is this an aspect of Samudya? I realize that there are differnt ways to be a wealthy person. One way is to live as the Real People of the indigenous culture of Australia do as depicted in “Mutant Message Down Under”. These people live in a world where every need is fulfilled. Yet they own nothing. Come to think of it. This would be true of any wealthy person. What does it matter if you own anything? Owning something does nothing more than enslave you to it.
Perhaps what I seek is true freedom, freedom from the suffering of Dukkha and the elimination of Samudya. I seek Nirodha. Perhaps the noble eightfold path of Marga is not inconsistent with the true meaning of wealth since, for me, wealth and nirvana are one in the same. The attainment of spiritual enlightenment is achieved through the mastery of attachment and material desire.
All truths are universal.
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