Spirituality and Prosperity – Are They a Match?

Can you want to make money and still live a moral, spiritual life? Is money really the root of all evil? Does wanting more make you greedy?

It is an interesting question. However there really isn’t anything spiritual about lack. If the creation of wealth becomes an obsession without a significant goal than it can challenge your life course and your spirituality but, If you don’t have enough money to make ends meet then how can you possibly use it to help others?

It is sometimes surprising to think that having wealth can actually enhance your well being and your spirituality. If we learn how to create wealth in order to enjoy it and not to be consumed by it, it can in fact lead us to many great things.

Spirituality and Wealth really go hand in hand. The Dalai Lama has stated “With the realization of one’s own potential and self confidence in one’s own ability, one can build a better world”. It is in your own and the world’s best interest that you persue your talents to the fullest and with that dedication you will achieve results that will enable you to help others.

Wanting to make more money, to live a life without worry, to enjoy with suffering is not against any spiritual rule. The only issue that arises is really when the motives behind wanting prosperity are not in fact ones that could be considered moral or spiritual.

From the Dalai Lama’s Little Book of Inner Peace, he writes:

“Even if you had the world at your feet, it would still not be enough. Desire is insatiable. And on top of that, how many disappointments and difficulties, and how much suffering! Excessive desire is not only impossible to satisfy, it’s also the source of torment. Let’s imagine that you are extraordinarily rich, and you have a huge stock of food. But you have only one mouth and one stomach, so you cannot swallow more than an ordinary person. If you ate enough for two, you would die. It’s better to establish boundaries right from the start, and feel satisfied within those boundaries.”

So in essence as long as we understand our motives for wanting prosperity it is not a concept that is in contradiction with our spiritual path or search. Money is not good nor bad but rather remains relatively neurtal. It’s value is determined by the use we give it.

Many people that consider themselves spiritual have significant money problems and that is quite simply because many of them are trying to live apart in a higher world and believe that money belongs with more worldly living. However financial abundance could in fact give them the opportunity to devote more of their live to learning and teaching along their path for themselves and for others. It is not the money itself, but what you do with it.

For many past experience with lack, or with greed have influenced their outlook. Some energy practioners believe that many people with chakra imbalances and blocks in the lower chakras experience this comfort with lack of abundance.

The key to keep in mind is that if generally all of us need to attract money in order to continue to be able to do our spiritual work and be able to support the needs of others. Money and Prosperity in general can be a great spiritual asset!