Spiritual Poverty
Lately fueled by the political climate in the US there is a heated debate about poverty and social injustice. This debate has a tremendous impact on people’s minds and does affect elections in a democratic society. There is obviously much more that remains to be done to fight poverty among us.
On the other hand poverty is not just defined by the financial situation of a person or a family. There is a deep concept of spiritual poverty and it’s affect and ramifications are much wider and much more powerful. Spiritual poverty can lead to economic poverty as well, but it can also affect people in good financial standing. Extreme selfishness, lack of consideration for others, lack of personal strength and determination are some of the causes of spiritual poverty. This in turn can lead to failure to achieve, strained relationships, depression, anxiety, anger, substance abuse, and many other negative manifestations. It often causes a spiral of events, one leading to the other.
Rather than justifying and accepting all negative behavior and rewarding it with support and ample resources with questionable results, we should find the courage to confront some of the principal causes. No politician would dare to express such a view, even if they see some of the reasons for our never-ending failures. After all politics are about gaining control through popularity and that almost always has very little to do with the truth. Continuous political drama filled with lies, finger pointing, and publicly devouring each other is making all of us loose faith and trust in governments and in our fellow man.
As a result we all become spiritually poor without ever noticing it.
On the other hand, there are many places in the world where people live dignified, content, and happy lives with very limited financial means. Theoretically most of us agree that happiness and wealth are 2 different things, yet it is so easy to create confusion between the two. Being content and happy are the signs of Spiritual Wealth while the others state points to Spiritual Poverty and they don’t have a direct correlation with money or financial status.
I wish many of us would wake up and start fighting back for real values which should be the pillars of our society. Building yourself through hard work, education, overcoming personal challenges, and a desire to thrive and succeed should be highlighted. When a person builds oneself and is brought to demand higher standards of oneself, that person is likely to be more tolerant and considerate of others.
People should be concerned about fulfilling their full potential and contributing to their immediate surroundings and to the society at large. Accepting, justifying, rewarding negative attitudes and behaviors for political gain is an ugly game that brings us all down and is the catalyst for “Spiritually Poverty”.
