Let us first understand meaning of wealthy here. It means anything which is in excess of your needs – be it money, means, wisdom, talent or skills.
There are very few, who inherit wealth in all forms. If someone inherits lot of money, he/she could be short of wisdom or skills, or vice versa. Dearth of wisdom would make him/her to squander the inherited money. Therefore, most of us race in our life to reach and acquire what we don’t have in adequate quantity. But, once we get that, do we stop racing? No, we don’t! We tend to raise the bar of our needs and consider it as new normal! We feel justified in doing so, forgetting that it is nothing but greed!!
So, majority of wealthy people is in race of greed and there are a small percentage of people, who are indeed engaged in godly acts like philanthropy, empathy, uplifting under privileged, helping others to become better and grow. In this small population of such people, there are 2 categories – (a) Those who consider it as their obligation to society and have no expectation in return (b) Those who do it for their gains like enhancing their business interests, saving of taxes through charity, becoming more visible and/or gaining popularity and publicity. Category (b) is actually nothing but greed, though shrouded under godly acts. It is only people in category (a) who are truly honest, god like and asset for the society.
World history shows long list of famous names as philanthropists, some of whom are Mother Teresa, Bill Gates – chairman of Microsoft, Michael Jackson and Jon Bon Jovi – both famous American rock stars, Warren Buffett – legendry US investor, George Clooney – Hollywood film star, Larry Ellison of Oracle Inc., Lady Gaga and Shahrukh Khan of Bollywood Films. It is up to you to judge who falls in category (a) and who in (b).
Greed comes in since our goals don’t go “beyond I”!
I have observed lot of people leading goalless life! They are often frustrated without knowing the cause!! It is because they lack direction and purpose in what they do in absence of goals. There are some, who just follow others without defining what is their passion and what they want to accomplish. Another set of people fixes goals, but not firmly and keep changing those without any rational reasons. Then there are others, who contemplate and consciously set the goals, what they want to pursue with passion.
In good companies, there is lot of emphasis, training and coaching for goal setting. But, there is one major flaw. It is all about setting goal around you but not beyond you! This is where greed kicks in.
Goal around you sets a limited purpose. Once you get it, then what? You become wealthy and you start raising bar of your needs. This is when maladies start to malign you. It enhances your ego and creates constant conflicts of interests.
If your goals go beyond you like grow my department or company by x%, build y no. of sub-ordinate as my back up or better than me etc., it brings enthralling and exclusive experience. With such goals, you don’t have worry about own your growth and rewards; these are guaranteed automatically! Look at the fine difference between “goal around you” and “goal beyond you”:
“I want to happy and healthy, so that I don’t have to depend upon anyone!”
Versus
“I want to be happy and healthy, to give happiness and help to ones, who are dependent on me!”
Going “beyond I” brings amazing advantages. Normally, it is difficult to visualize its virtues, unless you actually do it sincerely. Your vision touches new horizon; you discover a unique sense of purpose in your life and your confidence reaches a new climax!
Drawing a distinction between Greed and God-like!
Threshold in everyone’s life comes, when his/her essential needs are fulfilled. Beyond that, there are only two choices – greed or godly acts.
The distinction between the two choices is simple – greed is “all about I” and god-like is “all about others”!
Many tend to swing between the two, believing that latter would compensate for the former. That is not true. Fact is swinging or switching between the two in nothing but greed and often it brings more conflicts than comforts!
By greed, you go down. By grace of god-like acts, you only gain; gain what you have never dreamt!
By greed, you would collect more of what you already have. It would decay and degenerate. But, by engaging in god-like acts like love, compassion, sharing your wealth, wisdom, experience or skills with others, you would constantly renew, revitalize and rediscover what you have and add immense values!
Your connection to others is stark local as well as remote reality in scientific sense. Ignoring it is a worst ignorance of nature.
So, it is a 2 step decree to divine:
- Go “beyond I”!
- Give excess of what you have, to be God-like!!
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