What Is It About Money?

Obviously, we all need money to survive in the world we live in—money to pay the rent/mortgage, buy groceries and clothes, compensate our computer services provider, perhaps contribute to charity, and so on.

Some manage well on what their salaries/pensions/inheritance/savings allow them. Many others get by. Some suffer hardship, sometimes of circumstances not of their own making, like illness or physical loss. Others make unwise lifestyle choices that land them in poverty.

Although a few may live in religious or other communities where all is shared, most of us must take care of financial matters for ourselves and family members.

Almost all adults in the western world must deal with these matters, but some with more than adequate means seem to obsess with getting more. Or to using more than adequate means to gain power over the political process in order to encourage laws that favor their amassing even more wealth.

What is it about money that is so enticing to those who already have plenty of it?

Some very wealthy individuals do indeed share their wealth to fund programs for the less well-off. Some give huge amounts and others give less but nevertheless, the amount of charitable contributions is certainly meaningful. Those funds have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, provided rent assistance and low income housing, and set up college scholarships, among other worthy causes.

Wealth, it seems is not the culprit, but rather our attachment or lack of attachment to it.
Interesting, of course, because as Jesus pointed out, all of us leave it behind at death.
Regardless of which, if any, religious community you adhere to, you must leave any wealth behind. Beyond that is where faith takes us.

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