WHATEVER MAY BE SAID IN PRAISE OF POVERTY, the fact remains
that it is not possible to live a really
complete or successful life unless one is rich. No one can
rise to his greatest possible height in talent or
soul development unless he has plenty of money, for to
unfold the soul and to develop talent he must
have many things to use, and he cannot have these things
unless he has money to buy them with.
A person develops in mind, soul, and body by making use of
things, and society is so organized
that man must have money in order to become the possessor of
things. Therefore, the basis of all
advancement must be the science of gaining genuine wealth.
The object of all life is development, and everything that
lives has an inalienable right to all the
development it is capable of attaining.
A person’s right to life means his right to have the free
and unrestricted use of all the things which
may be necessary to his fullest mental, spiritual, and
physical unfoldment; or, in other words, his right
to be genuinely wealthy.
To be really wealthy does not mean to be
satisfied or contented with a little. No one ought to be
satisfied with a little if he is capable of using and
enjoying more. The purpose of nature is the advancement and
unfoldment of life, and everyone should
have all that can contribute to the power, elegance, beauty,
and richness of life. To be content with less
is painful to the complete human entity.
The person who owns all he wants for the living of all the
life he is capable of living is genuinely wealthy, and no
person who has not plenty of money can have all he wants.
Life has advanced so far and become so
complex that even the most ordinary man or woman requires a
great amount of wealth in order to live
in a manner that even approaches completeness. Every person
naturally wants to become all that they
are capable of becoming. This desire to realize innate
possibilities is inherent in human nature; we
cannot help wanting to be all that we can be. Success in
life is becoming what you want to be. You can
become what you want to be only by making use of things, and
you can have the free use of things only
as you become rich enough to buy them. To understand the
science of genuine wealth is therefore the most
essential of all knowledge.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to become wealthy. The
desire for wealth is really the desire for a richer,
fuller, and more abundant life — and that desire is
praiseworthy. The person who does not desire to live
more abundantly is abnormal, and so the person who does not
desire to have money enough to buy all
he wants is abnormal.
There are three motives for which we live: We live for the
body, we live for the mind, we live for the
soul. All are alike desirable, and no one of the three —
body, mind, or soul — can live fully if either of the others
is cut short of full life and expression. It is not
right or noble to live only for the soul and deny mind or
body, and it is wrong to live for the intellect and
deny body or soul.
We are all acquainted with the loathsome consequences of living
for the body and denying both
mind and soul, and we see that real life means the complete
expression of all that a person can give forth
through body, mind, and soul. Whatever he can say, no one
can be really happy or satisfied unless his
body is living fully in its every function, and unless the
same is true of his mind and his soul. Wherever
there is unexpressed possibility or function not performed,
there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility
seeking expression or function seeking performance.
A person cannot live fully in body without good food,
comfortable clothing, and warm shelter,
and without freedom from excessive toil. Rest and recreation
are also necessary to his physical life.
One cannot live fully in mind without books and time to study
them, without opportunity for
travel and observation, or without intellectual
companionship.
To live fully in mind a person must have intellectual
recreations, and must surround himself with
all the objects of art and beauty he is capable of using and
appreciating.
To live fully in soul, a person must have love, and love is
denied fullest expression by poverty.
This is why GOD IS LOVE {1 Jn.4:8} because HE has all that
he can bestow on any being whether the good, the bad or the ugly even allowing
the devil to tempt a soul knowing fully that he alone created the soul and no
other being can take a soul from his hands!!!
A person’s highest happiness is found in the bestowal of
benefits on those he loves; love finds its
most natural and spontaneous expression in giving. The
individual who has nothing to give cannot fill
his place as a spouse or parent, as a citizen, or as a human
being. It is in the use of material things that a
person finds full life for his body, develops his mind, and
unfolds his soul. It is therefore of supreme
importance to each individual to become wealthy.
It is perfectly right that you should desire to become
wealthy. If you are a normal man or woman you cannot
help doing so. It is perfectly right that you should give
your best attention to the science of gaining genuine wealth,
for it is the noblest and most necessary of all studies. If
you neglect this study, you are derelict in your
duty to yourself, to God and humanity, for you can render to
God and humanity no greater service than
to make the most of yourself.