Is it right for someone who does not want to live attached to materialism to attain wealth? Is there a justification? How can we balance these two desires?

Burcin Cevik

An interesting discussion on this topic is taking place at Intent Blog. Here’s a quote with Deepak Chopra’s response to this question, taken from an article written by David Beers, author of Blue Sky Dream:

“You need accept no limits, physical or financial. Noting that the title of one of his books is Creating Affluence: Wealth Consciousness in the Field of All Possibilities, I tell Chopra I was raised by my Catholic mother to curb material longing, to remember Christ’s teachings about the rich man and the eye of the needle. Growing up blue-collar in the Depression era, this teaching no doubt afforded her people some comfort. Chopra replies that “wealth is an expression of the spirit” and that because those without money always obsess about getting it, “the solution is to help everybody have wealth.” But is there a conflict between desiring wealth, and seeking God? “Why should material success be an impediment to spirituality?” he responds. “Keep increasing your desires until nothing satisfies you except God. Wanting material wealth is part of that.”

Materialism is generally seen as the belief that the material world of the senses is all that exists, and that there is nothing beyond it. As such, of course this view is incompatible with a desire for spiritual attainment, for there is no notion of anything spiritual in materialism.

Yet what we usually mean by materialism is merely seeking to improve the material circumstances of our lives. We’d like to have more comfort, or have a bit more freedom, or the ability to surround ourselves with beauty, or to pursue our interests more fully, or have more time, and so on. We all must solve the economic problem: how to secure our livelihood. And we all make a choice of how to best do this with our limited time, and in a way that is consistent with our principles.

What if, instead of imposing a conflict between spirituality and our desires, we could see our desires as coming from the One Heart that is within us, yet holds all beings and all things. The One Heart gives rise to our own desires, for its own desire is for progress, fulfillment, development; in short, for the living manifestation of perfection itself. What dimension of the heart is your development taking place in right now? Take our Heart Index quiz for some insight on this.

love,

Puran & Susanna

Is it possible for a lay person to bring instantaneous concentration within a few moments? I’m a student who has alot of noise in my mind. To stop this noise I need to concentrate. I will be giving a lot of examinations in the coming months which will decide my future. These tests are reasoning tests and i need to apply my full concentration for a long period of about 3 hours. Which ways can I try to achieve full concentration????  thanks, student

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This is an interesting blog by Seth Godin, author of “The Dip”, a book about how to be “the best in the world”.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com
I admire his creativity and tenacity, and his focus on honest assessment of how important a goal really is to you, and what you’re willing to sacrifice. This book is really about the forward dimension of the heart.

Susanna

Where is your growing edge? What is it that you need? What is your obstacle, what is that problem which you must solve, but you haven’t yet? We’ve seen that this need often manifests in the areas of health, relationships, and goals, so we make each of these a major focus of our work.
This “pressing need” is a message to you from your heart. It’s the heart’s longing to grow and develop in its fullness. We see this pressing need as an integral part of your spiritual development; it is not a distraction, it is the work itself. Our interest is, how can meditation help you?
Susanna

The Wall Street Journal (9/18/07) has a great article on fitness legend Jack LaLanne, who built a chain of gyms and developed several kinds of weightlifting machines. (You must be a subscriber to read the article).

The article is a great example of the following Exercise for Life:

When the lack of focus, initiative, persistence or success of others around you annoys you, take this as a signal that you need to improve your own self-mastery through concentration on some specific, personal goal.

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Here’s an interesting article which shows the difficulty of trying to change your heart with your mind.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk

This woman wrote a book on her experience of trying to follow the self-help advice of several major books, and how it made her life worse.

Don’t try to follow someone else’s idea of how you should be. That approach cannot possibly be right for you. Even if the actions are right, the approach is wrong, because only following your own heart is right for you.

Also, don’t follow your mind. This sounds like a paradox — what do you follow if not your mind? Well, you must follow your heart. It will lead you to the unexpected, the terrifying, the new, toward your longing and your fulfillment.

Susanna