"Don't Let Money Blind You,Life Is Not All About Money & Power

Is Money Really the Root of all Evil?

Is money really the root of all evil? This familiar quote "money is the root of all evil" rings true to you, right?

Perhaps not all of us hate money but for me, I detest money. Generally, everyone would think that money is a necessity. Yes, it is. In fact, we need it to buy our food, pay for our shelter and for other necessities in life. But however loathsome money can be we are required to have it.
Reasons why I detest money?

1. Money breeds hostility and greed. I remember the film "Missionary Man" here. A rich local businessman named Reno wants nothing to stand in the way of his plans to build a casino on an Indian reservation. Reno's character portrays our human nature of insatiability, humans are not always satisfied.

If we seem to have it all as manifested by material riches such as in real estate properties, acquired businesses, cars, fame, fortune and power we only crave for more even in the expense of the lives of others. Thus, our dark side and the monster in us grow. We do whatever it takes to get what we want, the evil way - in hostility. Rambler's adage best describes this. "Eagerness for increase of possession deluges the soul, and we sink into the gulfs of insatiability."

2. The desire to have more can bring about war and destruction. Massive acquisition of power, properties and people cause superpower nations to annihilate and begin wars.

3. It leads to envy. When we see people who are far richer than us and they can get and buy what they want, it means we are becoming envious of what they have that we can't have.

4. Generates negative traits and acts of theft and robbery. One can only imagine what goes through a mind of a robber and what motivates a burglar to break-in a mansion.

5. Destroy family ties and break relationships among friends, colleagues, and love ones. More often than not, we observe that families get broken because of fiscal issues for either insufficient money is not produced to sustain the family. Friendships and business partnerships are torn for lack of responsibility in handling their money and support what they are accountable of such as in rental bills and business expenditures.

Truly, we desire and yearn to acquire to have more money in this object-oriented world brought about by consumerism. Money can be the root of all evil if one's intention is primarily directed to one's self. But when one is aware and conscious of all his actions and even his thoughts including his desire, intention or goal and can manage his money wisely and handle it for a good purpose, it does not become evil. Lead yourself in dealing with your money in a positive manner towards your happiness and peace of mind.

"Seven Things That Can Wreck Your Life"

Sex ... Money ... Power ... Fame ... Good Looks ... Ambition ... Success

If any of these Seven become tangled up in the Seven Deadly Sins (Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride), look out! Otherwise, they are simply to be enjoyed, but not to bet the farm on - it's only when we begin to grasp blindly at these things that we head down a precarious and deluded path. Grasping blindly means that we see these as some kind of truth, an unchanging truth where can find our eternal security and happiness. This is of course impossible; these seven things are transient, and they will disappear in a short period of time.

An ignorance of their extremely temporary status, combined with a refusal to acknowledge or even be aware of spiritual things beyond these temporal things, sets us up for tremendous suffering. When we expect things to be good, and they turn out not to be, this is a basic ignorance of how things really are.

If these seven things were ultimate truths, why must we continuously relive them?

Sex can be a bother. It's not as if you can have sex once and say, "There, that's it! I'm satisfied!" No, you will have to revisit sex maybe as many as 18,000 times in a lifetime, or more!

And money can be such a worry. We worry about getting it, then holding on to it, how to spend it wisely, and how to get even more because we never feel that we have enough. Few rich people have a peaceful mind (until they give it all away).

Power is an enemy creator; someone will always be jealous of your power and want to take it from you. Few respect power; they respect leadership, power intimidates them.

Fame is a real inconvenience. Once we become famous and our lives become public property, seclusion is no longer an option. The short-lived high of attention quickly becomes a long-term liability.

Good looks, unfortunately, fade just as sand slips through an hourglass. Even with face-lifts and other cosmetic improvements, our speech and mannerisms change and give us away, as we worry constantly about getting old.

Ambition isolates us. When we become overly ambitious it's a bet that we become self-centered as well, and self-centeredness is the opposite of compassion.

Finally, worldly success is always destined for failure in the end. Success means that we have temporarily attained our intended purpose, but since everything in the world constantly changes, our success is always short-lived.

These seven things - Sex, Money, Power, Fame, Good Looks, Ambition, and Success never work out as well as we imagine they might. On the other hand, poverty, powerlessness, infamy, common looks, non-ambition, worldly non success, and the absence of sex; these are more or less the realities of a monk or nun's life, and perplexingly, lead to happiness.

Taking a stand between these extremes is what works for most people: Sex, but responsible sex; money, but only as much as you really need; control, but not overbearing control; distinction, but always an underplayed distinction; natural appearance, not false representations; goals and aims, but within the restrictions of non-greed and honesty; and finally, success, but not restricted to only the world - success must include a sincere reaching out toward our Ultimate Reality.

Then the seven things that can wreck your life may change into the seven things that can save your life: Virtue, generosity, loving kindness, serenity, truthfulness, determination, and wisdom.