Way back in the seventies the Wall Street Journal ran a story with an unusual finding.
Executives whose income rose from $250K to $750K reported an increase in financial insecurity and feelings of inadequacy.
Remember, this was fifty years ago when $250K would buy you a townhouse in Manhattan.
The reporter then cited some research and explained why.
When an executive made $250K he – they were mostly male then – lived the good life. He had a spacious house, traveled first class and could go to Europe for a family vacation.
When he rose to an income of $750K he began rubbing shoulders with a different class of people. They went by helicopter to their estates in the Hamptons and spent summers on their yachts in the South of France or on private islands.
And he felt inadequate and poor.
I remember a NY Times story, in the same period, about an investment banker who was upset with his $10 million bonus. He cried, threw tantrums, sulked and locked himself up in his house and refused to come to work. The CEO threw him an additional $3 million.
These may be extreme cases, but the underlying motivation is all too common. We all want ‘more’ and, for many, there is never enough.
I have written about this in an earlier blog.
Ramana Maharshi, the enlightened sage who has had a powerful influence on my life, came to Tiruvannamalai and initially wore no clothes. This offended the sensibilities of the local villagers who persuaded him to wear a kaupina. This was a loincloth which covered his private parts and consisted of a strip of cotton whose ends were tucked into a string tied around his waist.
The kaupina got torn and the gentry were again troubled by this. Ramana Maharshi plucked a long thorn from a nearby bush. He then plucked another thorn and used the sharp end of this to poke a hole through the base of the first one. He now had a makeshift needle but no thread. So he separated a strand from his tattered kaupina and used it to stitch the hole. Then he threw both thorns away where no one would be hurt by stepping on them.
He had no possessions. He did not wear footwear. He slept on the ground till disciples made a wooden platform on which he could recline and sleep. And people came from all over the world to bask in his presence. There are innumerable accounts of people who felt mental peace for the first time when they were close to him.
Is there a lesson here for you?
The solution is not to give away your wealth and possessions.
They will all be stripped away from you when death lays its ‘icy hand’ on your brow.
The solution is to keep pondering on the impermanence of all possessions and focus relentlessly on the only thing that is real.
And that is that you are pure awareness. You are not this body-mind-intellect construct that you mistakenly identify with.
Peace!
