There’s an old proverb that says, “The fool and his money are easily parted”. I was thinking about that today while reading a little more from the Zohar (aka Kabbalah) and recognizing what I believe to be a trend in some of the ancient esoteric teachings related to the concept of abundance and the meaning of life. I also see some of this also mirrored in more modern Christian movements such as the so called prosperity movement and even the new age teachings of the Law of Attraction (all concepts I discuss on this blog). But whatever form it takes, the same ultimate conclusion can be reached. We all get whatever we ask for in life and thus in effect, we all get exactly what we deserve (be that for richer or for poorer).
As I understand it, the argument begins with the belief that God (aka universal energy, the source, or whatever it is we call it), has created a universe that responds to unseen spiritual or metaphysical laws. These laws work regardless of one’s morals or right standing with God. That’s a big part of the secret the ancient masters kept to themselves.
The majority of the masses are taught by those who know the secret of wealth to believe that they must EARN their wealth. The average man is repeatedly told to work hard for his money (i.e. their masters) and then one day all their hard work will be rewarded because they have earned it. If it turns out at the end of a long hard life of labor that they did not become rich, well, they have only themselves to blame because they simply didn’t work hard enough. Meanwhile the learned masters and teachers of esoteric secrets do not believe this concept of money at all. They believe that wealth is NOT earned but rather that all one merely needs to do is allow themselves to become rich because they deserve to have it. It is more like a birthright than an accomplishment. Money belongs to them because it is their inheritance and right by birth. It doesn’t matter if they earned it or not.
Now, the biggest obstacle to overcome when receiving wealth (according those who study things like the Kabbalah), is your own guilt and shame over being rich. While you would think this wouldn’t be a problem for most, especially not yourself, here is how it is explained in the best way I’ve seen it explained. Ironically I turn to Buddhism to best explain a Jewish (Kabbalistic) concept.
The Bread of Shame (Kabbalah) from a Buddhist perspective
There is a famous Buddhist parable or story I remember reading about the first Buddha which illustrates the concept of shame and guilt succinctly. The gist of the story is this: A young noble or prince is born to a royal family and for every day of his life he is treated just as he is, like royalty. He lives his life in a glorious palace and never lacks for anything. Whatever he desires, food, women, money, material possessions….literally WHATEVER he wants, it is simply handed to him the moment he asks. Furthermore, the young prince is sheltered from seeing the evil or bad things of the world. He is not allowed to see the old, sick or the dying. He is not allowed to see poverty and death. And, because the prince has lived his entire life this way he has no concept of what life is like for other people. Then one day the prince decides that he wants to travel outside the walls of his palace and go see the common people whom he is told love him and adore him. Though his advisers strongly discourage him from doing this, ultimately the princes desires are met for he gets whatever he wishes. Once outside the walls of his palace however, the prince sees things he has never seen before. People are growing old and feeble, people are going to bed hungry, people are sleeping in the streets with no roof over their head, people are sick and dying. Suddenly the prince is overcome by overwhelming guilt and shame. How is it fair, he wonders, that he lives so lavishly and everyone else lives so miserably? Why should he have so much while others have so little? What joy is there in having everything if others are suffering from lack? Overcome by his enormous guilt and shame, the prince decides that he can no longer live life as a prince behind his palace walls and vows never to return. He determines then and there that he can no longer receive any joy from having everything that he desires in life when others suffer. The joy of having everything has lost it’s luster.
In Kabbalistic terms, this condition of the prince is known as “eating the bread of shame”. Because we see others suffering (or others not being as fortunate as yourselves), we tend to feel guilt over our good fortune. More specifically, we feel enormous guilt when our good fortune is simply handed to us without our having done anything for it. Our guilt is lessened to some extent when we choose to believe that we had to WORK for what we have instead of being handed it. Because we have WORKED for it or EARNED it we can tell ourselves that the poor person could have had the same lavish things we enjoy if only they had simply worked hard themselves. This allows the fortunate or wealthy man to feel better about his wealth because he earned it. If he simply was given everything without doing anything, he might feel guilt that others were not.
The true masters of wealth however, may not have this problem of guilt. They do not need to feel as if they earned their wealth. Nor do they need to feel guilt that others are not wealthy. Kabbalah teaches us that we do not actually EARN anything. We receive abundance because we (like the prince) simply were given it. The universe (god, or whatever you call it), has given us everything we desire. All we need to do is accept it. We do not need to feel guilt for asking for a good life because we were meant to have a good life nor do we need to to feel shame because someone else didn’t have it as good as we do. But more specifically we also do not need to justify our good fortune by saying we worked for it while others did not. It is simply good enough to accept that we get things because God wants us to have it.
No Guilt Prosperity
The Introduction to the Zohar explains it like this….
“In the teachings of the Zohar we find the Universal Law that states categorically that it is not possible to have what is not yours….just as it is not possible to be denied what is yours…..”
– Introduction to the Zohar
In other words,if you have money and wealth it was meant be yours. PERIOD. If you do not have it, it wasn’t. Furthermore there is no such thing as feeling guilty over taking something from someone else by force or even deception. For, as the law “categorically” teaches, it is not possible to have what is not yours. If you take something from someone, it was meant to be yours. That’s why you have it now and they don’t.
The Hebrew scriptures are full of troubling stories or allegories that prove that wealth is not earned nor does one need to feel guilt be obtaining wealth by whatever means one chooses (force, deception, greed, thievery, murder, etc). Abraham became wealthy by lying to the Pharaoh of Egypt and claiming that his wife was only his sister thus allowing the Pharaoh to take his wife as one of his concubines and receive punishment from God. Although Abraham lied, he was blessed tremendously with riches and sent away by the Pharaoh because he believed God was punishing him for sleeping with another man’s wife. King David decided that he wanted to sleep with another man’s wife (Bathsheba) and had her husband sent to the front lines to be killed (murdered) after impregnating the man’s wife. And, the Bible refers to David as “a man after God’s own heart” and promises to restore the greatness of Kind David’s kingdom once again. Jacob stole his brothers birthright by taking advantage of his brother Esau over bowl of porridge and then putting animal fur on his arms and deceiving his elderly father into giving him all his eldest son’s inheritance and thus becomes the father of the 12 tribes of Israel and inheritor of God’s kingdom. As said at the start, a fool and his money are easily parted. Too bad, so sad for Esau. But it’s not Jacob’s fault, he was obviously meant to have it.
I would argue that some in Kabbalah believe strongly in the concept that they cannot have anything that does not belong to them already quite literally. It is impossible for them to lie, steal, cheat or deceive anyone out of something that another person was meant to have. If they get your money, it belonged to them in the first place. No one can have what does not belong to them.
Please remember that all of the above are just some random thoughts from reading a portion of the Zohar and reflecting on some trends I have seen. It does not mean I believe wealthy people are all evil bastards. It does not mean I believe I deserve your money, your house or your car. All it means is that I find it interesting food for thought.