Wealth and Poverty

13 Izzat 163 B.E. – September 20, 2006

This morning my Mother and I went for our normal morning walk. I got to thinking about the spiritual definition of wealth and poverty. Precisely what brought these subjects to mind, I am not sure. When I walk, my thoughts wonder between spiritual matter, the beauty of the neighborhood, and half a dozen other things. Anyway I got to pondering the two concepts and decided to see what Baha’u’llah had to say on the subject.

I used the Oceans Research Library to find what I wanted, which was the spiritual definitions of poverty and wealth. This is what I found: “… Consequently by ‘wealth’ is intended independence of all else save God and by ‘poverty’ the need of God.” (Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 34) This meaning of course is not what people usually mean when they discuss these two subjects, but perhaps it should be part of the discussion.

We focus so much on the material definitions of words and concepts that we forget there are also spiritual meanings. It is the spiritual meanings and the way we incorporate them into our lives that transforms individuals. When a person raises his or her mental vision from the purely material and focus on the spiritual, then that individual is renewed and the circumstance of his or her life changes. Sometimes this change is slow and barely noticeable, yet it does occur. In these instances, the person just needs to “hang in there”, pray, have faith, and look for the opportunities approaching.