2 page essay

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WHAT IS WEALTH? Poverty, unemployment, underemployment, over exploitation, and of course homelessness grow around us today like manmade viruses, or manmade forest fires. Yet of course we each reach higher, on our own, to avoid all of these nightmares – and for that very reason, they never seem to go away. It is absurd to write a lesson about the nature of wealth – and particularly about the non-identification of wealth with money but instead with spiritual fulfillment, as is argued by the writers we will be looking at – at a time like now, where the basic survival of many is made much harder than it needs to be. Yet let us proceed, in spite of the dour present, to regard what the ancients had to say about the nature of wealth. If they write in the form of advice, it is advice addressed to those already confident in their wealth, and for the purpose of not accumulating more than what they need: it is advice to the wealthy to be not so greedy. That is the essence of ancient political advice. For us to read these things now may seem untimely. Our resources may be as diminished as our sense of free time: we are always busy working, yet also always busy in lacking in things we need, and worrying about the future. A truly humiliating scenario: poor in time, and also poor in life’s necessities. And furthermore, poor in socialization. What miracle of security is promised to you over the rainbow of graduation I do not know. I know only that promises are a form of advertising, and advertising is intended to sell products, not explicate the truth. But perhaps from the ancients we may learn something that will make us already rich – rich in our abilities to live, which ultimately are in our own custody. We may learn a cardinal lesson from reading ancient thoughts about the nature of wealth, a lesson that once considered, is not untimely at all: The lesson is that simplicity is the highest form of wealth. Simplicity in material needs, simplicity in decorum, and simplicity in style: these are the ancient hallmarks of a wealthy soul, not the pomposity of extravagance which denotes a manic need for affirmation that results from an impoverished inner world. It may seem strange to think of this, but it is true. Ancient wisdom regarding wealth points all in the direction of simplicity. Because wealth, understood materially – in the forms of objects and currency – are allocated a part in life that is not central, but secondary. There is hypothesized instead the centrality of character, and the centrality of relations with others, to which material wealth serves only a practical purpose. In other words, wealth is measured wealth is measured mainly in the terms of knowledge, love, and self-discipline by our ancient writers, and not as it is generally imagined now, in terms of a spectacle of possessions and power over others (for the greatest thing money can buy is another human being, and that has always been the sad case). The “advise” that we will read, which was addressed mainly to people born into wealth in ancient times, may inadvertently serve us well now, for simplicity never goes out of style. To want less is already a form of wealth, much more attainable than to have more. The premise of this formula is that there are other things to want in life (other things that have value) besides the purely material. If we have forgotten about these things, or have only learned to pay lip service to these things, it is because the economy has thoroughly colonized our imaginations and our time: there is nothing left to dream of acquiring besides objects. Just as in school there is nothing else to talk about besides tuition costs and workloads. Our miserable world of immediate concerns deserves being forgotten about for a while, in order to have the occasion to actually think without the pressure of attaining an immediate result. We can speculate, we can detach ourselves from where the autopilot of our lives is taking us. Maybe we can arrive somewhere else. I present to you first a set of aphorisms by the Greek philosopher Democritus, writing in the 400s BC. An aphorism is transportable, it can move anywhere across time and find a home, kind of like a vagabond.

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1 Medicine heals the body of diseases, wisdom frees the soul from passions.

2 Indulgence is the worst of all things with regard to the education of youth; for it is this which gives birth to the pleasures from which evil arises.

3 A courageous man is not only one who conquers his enemies but also one who is superior to pleasures; some men rule cities and are slaves to women.

4 All those who get their pleasures for their bellies, exceeding the measure in food and drink and sex, find the pleasures slight and short-lived, lasting as long as they are eating or drinking. But the pains are many. For they always desire the same things; and when they obtain what they desire, the pleasure swiftly departs and they find nothing good but a brief joy – and a need for the same things again.

5 If you exceed the measure, what is most enjoyable will become least enjoyable.

6 Desire for money, if it is not limited by satiety, is far heavier a burden than extreme poverty; for greater desires create greater needs.

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It is not useless to make money, but to do so unjustly is the worst of all things.

8 Poverty and wealth are names for want and satisfaction; so one who is in want is not wealthy and one who is not in want is not poor.

9 Fortunate is he who is content with moderate goods, unfortunate he who is discontent with many. Translation by Jonathan Barnes Want and satisfaction, poverty and wealth – Democritus’ aphorisms are directed against a wanting for the superfluous, the unnecessary, which assumes that the necessary is already secured. For many of us today it is not. Yet, it is my hypothesis, that Democritus’ aphorisms may still find their way into our as potential referents as to how to imagine what is worthy of being wanted. It is a proposition, not a dogma. You are not required to pretend to agree with anything. At least you can sharpen your own ideas by relating them to others.

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Christianity also takes up the question of wealth, most pointedly in the Gospel of Matthew, the first book of The New Testament. Shall we read what is written there? The Sermon on the Mount Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled. “Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. Rejoice and be glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted.”

* * * Riches in Heaven “Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.”

* * * God and Possessions “You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. “This is why I tell you: do not be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't life worth more than food? And isn't the

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body worth more than clothes? Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds? Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it? “And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. It is God who clothes the wild grass – grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won’t he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have! “So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’ (these are the things the pagans are always concerned about). Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things. So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings.”

* * * The Rich Young Man Once a man came to Jesus. “Teacher”, he asked “what good thing must I do to receive eternal life?” “Why do you ask me concerning what is good?” answered Jesus. “There is only One who is good. Keep the commandments if you want to enter life.” “What commandments?” he asked. Jesus answered, “Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother; and love your neighbour as you love yourself.” “I have obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else do I need to do?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was very rich. Jesus then said to his disciples, “I assure you: it will be very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of heaven. I repeat: it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” When the disciples heard this, they were completely amazed. “Who, then, can be saved?” they asked.

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Jesus looked straight at them and answered, “This is impossible for human beings, but for God everything is possible.” Then Peter spoke up. “Look,” he said, “we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?” Jesus said to them, “You can be sure that when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the New Age, then you twelve followers of mine will also sit on thrones, to rule the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times more and will be given eternal life. But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.” Good News translation The Gospel of Matthew was written around 80 AD. Unlike Democritus’ aphorisms, the Gospel of Matthew was written to – and for – a populace that was poor, as indeed most of the earliest Christians were. Yet the relation between rich and poor is implicit in this writing, as it is in Democritus’ aphorisms – implicit in the sense that the more wealth the rich have, the less is there for the rest. This concept predates the modern, capitalist notion that society as a whole becomes wealthier by seeing its wealthy become wealthier first. It is something to consider, perhaps it is even worth resuscitating momentarily from its dormant historical abode. The ideas expressed in the Gospel of Matthew were painted by the seventeenth century Italian artist Caravaggio. In his painting, The Calling of Saint Matthew, which is on the wall of the Church of Saint Louis of the French in Rome, you can see the gospel’s parable represented in visual form.

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To the left we see Christ and Saint Peter, who enter the dark room in unison with the light that emerges from a window outside of the painting’s frame. Christ’s raised hand, parallel to the entering light, is the representation of the calling, the adherence to the Christian doctrine. And who is being called? There are five men gathered around a table, each of a different age. The five ages of man – from childhood to old age – are represented in these figures. Notice that the younger men closest to Christ and Peter raise their heads to acknowledge the light (the calling), as does the middle aged man in the center who points to himself (that is Matthew, who prior to joining Christ was a tax collector). Yet the two men to the left ignore the call. Their eyes are focused on the coins they are counting on the table: you cannot serve two masters at once, you cannot serve both god and money. The implication of this painting, wherein the people at the table respond differently to Christ’s call, is that people have free will, and that they choose what to adhere to, and how to organize their values and their lives. And those choices are not always the same. The message of the Gospel of Matthew is put in stark relief in this painting by Caravaggio. It indicates to us that perhaps the pursuit of monetary wealth comes at the expense

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of other things that are more valuable. And this too is just a hypothesis to consider. Because considering things (thinking about them freely) is a secret form of wealth that the arts and humanities always dispenses freely. Please write only one page of a response to this lesson, not two. May your free time be wealthily spent. Dimitri Papandreu October 21, 2020