Uniting Spiritual and Material Values

I have never accepted that money was the root of all evil. Yet the way of peace has to face the current dominance of greed.

The basic problem with money seems obvious: it pulls the mind towards 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 nonspiritual. 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.

Using Saint Francis as an example, his struggle of one person’s soul caught between a successful career and poverty wasn’t based on the things we normally think about, such as pleasure, security, social position, and the ability to raise a family. The struggle was between worldly success and what pleased God, as taught by the Church fathers. In the end, Saint Francis tired to embody those values that pleased God.

The things we normally think about (money serving to bring pleasure, security, social position, and the ability to raise a family) 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.

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.

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

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

6:03AM PDT on May 4, 2011

Thanks for the article.

send a green star

Carmen B.

10:55PM PST on Feb 17, 2011

Thanks for sharing !

James M N.

4:49AM PST on Jan 12, 2011

Last :)

it for free, and you sell yours by the pound- it's readily assumable what that is. Yet, that delusional construction is supposedly central to the misery of man, so, I'll spend more of my worthless time on it- only because my time is worthless, obviously. Dualities don't exist, for e.g., spiritual vs. material, as everything that is known to man, including a purported vacuum, is spiritual, endemically, and there is actually nothing that is material, which even supposed scientists have proven in numerous ways, ergo, there's no purported duality; for, reality, spirit, is not in opposition to, competing with, measurable against a non-existent illusion called matter, the building block of material- as nothing is matter separate and unto itself, no matter what your definition of it is, in reality, and, therefore it doesn't exist, actually. I'll thank me in advance for my time, as yours is way to valuable for you to waste it on such a trivial civility.

reality

Uma C.

7:59AM PST on Jan 10, 2011

James I think we can be simplify a bit.What we call evil is what, without a care, destroys someone else to satisfy desire. Greed isn't wanting to have nice things but to insist on having them at everyone's detriment and expense. It's silly to blame money which is no more than an efficient medium of exchange for greed, evil, etc.. I'm sure from living in this world for some time you have become familiar with the unavoidable face of"evil". I think sociopaths who are remorseless abusers for the pleasure of it might be infant souls newly emerged from elemental consciousness and newly presented with a human ego (sense of self). Like an infant separating itself from all surrounding energy, driven by desire and need, there is no concern for effect. Also aside from sociopaths I think that as our souls mature we learn the price of causing suffering and gain a sense of empathy which guides us back to unity in the All That Is.I think that there is a short list of what we may not do, of what is truly evil in effect no matter the cause. We may not steal anther's choices. That is the way we grow spiritually, making choices and taking responsibility for their repercussions. We may not kill, if we do defending ourselves and others with no other choice it's their suicide not our kill. We may not enslave, in any way. We may not "mind f++k", that is to cast a glamor that blinds the other to their choices,in any way. After all that it's just a matter of community control desire and not bad.

12:34AM PST on Jan 10, 2011

Third: of the sentence at this point, you 'use', that same "the", with "dominance", a delusional construct of its own; and what is the target of all that illusory purported power being projected on, "greed", another delusion that is an offshoot of the malicious intent of the manufacture of money- to begin with. To simply say, there's no "the", and not no "the", no "dominance" and not no "dominance", also no "greed" and not no "greed", at once, would be a short cut only adepts would discern the meaning of; making the previous explanation of your attempt to delude readers with a purported duality that doesn't exist, superfluous- yet, necessary, as the average reader will still have difficulty, even with the verbose version. I need not go on, Sir, although, readers will need more detail to your agenda to discern it for themselves- so, I must, at minimum, address the totally delusional make-up of your blogs title.

jmn

Deepak Chopra: “Uniting spiritual and material values".

First, the delusion of separation doesn't exist, so, no need to "unite" those purported aspects of your purported duality, as a cause; for, it would manifest enumerable deleterious effects to the purported direction of that projection (for e.g., determine the opposite effects in reality). The purported need to "unite" "spiritual", anything, with "material" anything is the building blocks of your delusional intents direction; and, maybe, since I'm accurately discerning the truth and evoking

Past Member .

12:28AM PST on Jan 10, 2011

Good Grief...

12:20AM PST on Jan 10, 2011

Second: large and small; as it has aided in the fabrication and dissemination of the main delusional construct, materialism- which has determined the chasm between supposed haves and have nots, as well as its widening over time. This, while your qualifying your non-acceptance of that cliche with "never", is more indicative of your actual intent, and not the fallaciousness of the cliche's intent; which is to put the responsibility for moneys 'usages' results, and corresponding blame, on an 'other' than man, an object- just as 'using' the word 'evil' attempts to put its origins in the hands of a 'devil', etc., instead of man (a typical displacing and projective device of religious babble, in general, as well).

jmn

Deepak Chopra: “Yet the way of peace has to face the current dominance of greed.”

Ah, "the", a particularly generic word, which also alludes to a singularity of existence, if not importance and dominance, at the same time. Just as "way of peace", demands such a position, almost by force. This while the usage of the two together accentuates the allusional aspects of both, and the combination of that accentuation with the projection of animation, "has to face", which is specifically human, on a "way", an inanimate 'thing', to be sure, increases those allusory aspects exponentially, giving the resulting force of intent a supposed dominance that can only be interpreted as delusional. Then, to further delude, as must be interpreted as the intent o

5:42AM PST on Dec 28, 2010

Deepak Chopra: “I have never accepted that money was the root of all evil.”

That's good you haven't because it's not. Evil is a religious delineation describing the actions of purportedly mythical beings, like a devil, etc., which doesn't exist. Yet, the term has relevance in this world anyhow, because what man does is so despicable, words like evil are the only ones severe enough in their criticalness to attempt to do justice in the description; of course, those that do the 'evil' could also be more aptly called abominations, instead of men. This while man could be considered the root of all 'evil', and, being that man invented money, this would be a more appropriate first conclusion, linear, superficial thought one could jump to; if one were the jumpy kind. Although, since only specific men are the root of all 'evil', historically speaking, the generic nature of that comment, while sounding pithy, would render it inaccurate, at best. Being that money was an artifice, of mecha, manufactured to enable some to rob others, the ones manufacturing the money always having an upper hand in all and any thieving processes, its origins are 'evil' in intent; even though, they don't have to be in its actual, and even practical 'use'. The fact that its origins are also based in interlocking and laced systems of scarcity has had a lot to due with the historical inequities the astronomically increased 'usage' of it, and all its derivatives, has wrought on society, at la

Barbara E.

6:23PM PST on Dec 27, 2010

Thanx for article.

7:03PM PST on Dec 26, 2010

i think the quote is "love of money is the root of all evil..." not the object of money but our extreme desire for it which leads us to all kinds of errors and bad behavior....it's the love of money that drives so many people...and if you really don't believe this...just go have a 5 minute chat with anyone in politics....you'll see....think of Jesus in the temple throwing the money changers out...i think we should take that lesson to heart and throw out our "money changers"...we need to rid ourselves of the federal reserve bank..run by private bankers...the epitome of greed and avarice and we have allowed them to run our lives, ruin our world...we need to take back our futures before they have taken that too...