The Burdens of Our Wealth · Sources of Stress & Relief (WD024)
⁘ Created: 2026-05-06 ⁘ Updated: 2026-05-06
Wealth is a necessary evil in our world — a burden to manage, a source of stress for us all. Too much wealth is stressful. Too little wealth is stressful. Even just the right amount is stressful when it needs to stay in its range. Wealth by its nature attracts trouble — inviting thieves, opening the doors of temptation.
Wealth earned by our honest works is the purest wealth. Wealth we are gifted or inherit is a mixed bag. Wealth acquired by unethical means is a major source of negative side-effects. When you're seen as someone who didn't earn their share, people skim from it at leisure. When you're seen as someone who violated others in amassing your wealth, it justifies theft in return. Such ethical distortions arise in relation to the sources of our wealth.
While the default burden ever remains, we can relieve the stress with balanced and mindful management of our assets. Individually simply by living modest lives. Collectively in acts of charity, allocating a portion of our abundance for relieving the spectrum of authentic needs in this world. Acts of living balance. Be wealthy — but also be well.
#cat life. So wealth. A necessary evil for us all, save for those who abandon it all — and that way of life is very, very complicated in today's world. So too much wealth is stressful, too little wealth is stressful, and even just the right amount is stressful, when it needs to stay at a point of balance.
With wealth, there's the default trouble. Wealth attracts thieves, wealth leads to temptations. But there are also considerations for reducing the stress brought on by wealth. So wealth isn't just a neutral number on the bank account. Wealth is a loaded resource.
Consider the sources of wealth. First, there's the wealth you've gained by your own honest labour. Without deceit, without violence, without violating the rights of others. That's the purest wealth. Then you have wealth that is gifted or inherited, and that's a mixed bag. It depends. And then there's the wealth you've gained by swindling others, knowingly or otherwise, by telling lies, by harming others, by stealing. That wealth carries a burden.
Back in the days in India, there was the common belief that to purify your shady wealth, you would give contributions or sponsor feasts for the sadhus. And the feasts sponsored by dodgy merchants we would not attend. Contributions given we would leave idle on the altar for weeks on end, to let it air, to let it neutralize. So we did check the teeth of the gifted horse. It's often a Trojan horse you see. But we needn't enter a world of metaphysical imprinting here. It's all rather straightforward.
Where wealth, by default, by its very nature, catalyzes greed, jealousy, attracts thieves, then how much more so for wealth gathered by unethical means. Even wealth received by basically ethical channels, gifted or inherited, when the perception is that we have not earned it. Then look at this here young fellow, living large with his million dollar allowance from mom and dad, all entitled. What's the harm if I skim around the edges.
Then look at this business tycoon here, sucked the ground water dry in the villages, used child labor at the factories for good measure to bottle up the beverages. A taker, a violator of the rights of others. Surely we are justified to take without asking. So these are the sorts of ethical distortions that emerge in the minds of the masses, in reflection of wealth that is perceived as not strictly earned by your labors.
But even the wealth earned by your honest labor, that too needs to be mindfully managed. When you have abundance, as in objectively above your baseline needs, if you are stingy, you will be seen as a taker, and if you are too generous, then a giver for all, and from you they will take more and more. Then share with those in need, in due measure, not more and not less. And use your wealth to empower them, rather than to feed them. Give a man a fish or teach a man to fish, the classic, right.
Then we look at relieving the burdens brought about by wealth, for you individually and in relation to the collective. Individually, live a modest life. If it's enough, it's enough. No need to live large and to show off.
Evaluate and vet your circle of friends and associates. Get rid of the bootlickers and the opportunists. Those drawn to you, orbiting your world, caught in the gravity of your wealth, your power and your position, they are not there for you. They are there to gain from you, they are exploiters. Those who do not ask from you, even when they need. Those who do not flatter you, who call your shit when it stinks. They are your true friends. There simply for you, not for what you have, not for the promise you hold.
Then as we seek balance, we must operate in balance, and balance the allocation of our wealth. Due proportions for ourselves, for our parents, for our children, and for those in need. With those in need, we speak of the purification of your wealth, specifically in unseen acts of charity. Do not ever make a display of the gifts you give, of the charity you offer. That simply invites more jealousy and ill perception.
Then who are those in need? As the baseline, those who do not have enough, objectively, those are the ones in need. Then what are the diverse needs of the mankind? In a hierarchy of needs. Physical needs — food, shelter, clothing. Emotional needs — counselling, social contexts, psychological support. Intellectual needs — opportunities to study, to master new fields of meaningful knowledge. And the needs of the individual as a whole, self-actuation, empowerment, support in living a sovereign life.
Support of, and charity for those with an authentic need is a means to purify the burdens of your wealth. Also a means for alleviating the ill will and malice you attract by the assets you hold. Support for those with authentic needs, and support for those who dedicate their lives to relieving the burdens of the world.
Seek the opportunities, move unrequested. Do not wait for the askers. The askers usually ship with trouble. If you wait for the askers, chances are you wish to feel being the giver. Being the giver, with strings attached, implicit or explicit. Instead, be free and let the recipients too be free. There was a need, there was a lack, and it was fulfilled. An act of living balance took place — and that's all. We move on.
Then, mindfully managing our wealth, owning it up with our good works, we stand to reduce the burdens brought upon by the wealth we hold. May your wealth be nothing but an asset that brings balance to both the individual and the collective. Be wealthy — but also, be well.