Is Life's Mystery in Money?

The basic problem with money seems obvious: It pulls the mind toward worldly things, it fills up one’s hours with business and commerce, it distorts the true values of spirit by replacing them with pleasure and possessions. To me, this doesn’t say that money is evil or non-spiritual. It says that money is a distraction, and sometimes so powerful a distraction that people fail to go beyond it. The failure here is to unite spiritual and material values, but I believe the way of peace shows us that this is not only desirable but totally necessary.

Money serves to bring pleasure, security, social position, and the ability to raise a family. Those are good values, and there is no reason to suppose that they displease a God who loves his creation. God is not either/or in my view. It isn’t that you either live for him or you don’t. The process of integrating material life, with all the good it has to offer, and spiritual life, with all the good it has to offer, is a lifelong challenge.

If you live as though money brings the only happiness, clearly something has gone wrong. You have neglected the entire world of spirit, with the implication that the surface of life is enough. We are here to discover who we are. We are here to transform our surroundings in keeping with who we really are.

Great spiritual teachers have said that we are ultimately here to transcend matter, to worship our maker, to appreciate the infinite creation and learn humility before it. All those things may emerge once we know who we really are. That is life’s central mystery, and money doesn’t come close to answering it.

Adapted from Peace is the Way, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2005).

Read more: Deepak Chopra's Tips, Life, Money, God, materialism, money, spiritual life

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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KS G.

1:28AM PST on Jan 1, 2012

Thanks for the article.

send a green star

Vicky P.

1:26PM PST on Nov 10, 2011

good article

Rita W.

6:46AM PST on Nov 10, 2011

Thanks for the article

Rosi Caswell A.

10:33AM PST on Nov 7, 2011

Money as with any other "energy" is simply a physical exchange factor. How we utilize this factor is what makes us who we are, and how far within this lifetime we will evolve and develop. The concept is simple, and remains that way if we do not "muddy the waters" by distorting and twisting this precept. Rosi Caswell Animal/Human Therapist, Metaphysical Counsellor

10:28AM PST on Nov 7, 2011

Teresa W.

5:39AM PST on Nov 7, 2011

Yes, money is the most important thing in life.

Will R.

2:45AM PST on Nov 6, 2011

Money isn't good, or bad. It is neutral. People are good or bad. If you have ever been truly poor you would know that when you hit rock bottom you start thinking about crime, you fight with your partner and a lot of terrible things are done by poor people. You don't want to but you have no choice or your health will be damaged. I hated being poor as did all poor people, there is no honour in poverty. No beauty in starvation and no hope. Everyone wants a big bank account, and those who don't have probably never been poor.

Ji H.

7:14AM PDT on Nov 5, 2011

This message needs to be transmitted on loudspeakers daily into the offices of corporation headquarters and the U.S. Congress.

Ala M.

5:26AM PDT on Nov 5, 2011

Money is used as a transaction to buy and sell. Money should be used to help one another but not to hoar, save and lose. Greed never pays. Look around what money does to rich and famous. I use my money to live a moderate and simple life and the little I have I support charities. This is my wealth!

Gaby D.

4:55AM PDT on Nov 5, 2011

continued....III
Our fates are linked and perhaps the financial crisis that we face is the only way we will really understand that truth as a species.....we are here to learn to integrate our material world with our spiritual values. The world faces a choice, do we continue on the same ol' path or do we wake up and realize the fact that there is another way?
Are we willing to create and live in an all-inclusive system that offers equal and fair distribution of material 'needs/sources' to all living creatures of this world? A turning point? Who knows.....ONE would hope so! Are we reaching critical mass? At last? We would do well to wake up and smell the coffee now.....so that we can ALL smell the roses here-after! Namaste!