Can you want money and still be a good person?

Is money the root of all evil? Does wanting more make you greedy? Can you want to make money and still live a good, spiritual life?

It is an interesting question. My answer is that there is nothing spiritual about lack.

If you do not have enough to make ends meet, you cannot use money to help anyone else. Wanting more, so you can live without worry and enjoy your life without struggling, breaks no spiritual rule I know of.

Where it goes wrong is when making money turns into an obsession with no real goal behind it. Then it can pull your whole life off course, and your spirit with it. So the thing to look at is your motive.

Money is neutral

Money is neither good nor bad. Its value comes from the use you give it.

It can be a surprise to hear that wealth can help your wellbeing, and even your spiritual life. If you learn to make money so you can enjoy it, and you are not consumed by it, it can lead to a great many good things.

It is in your own interest, and the world's, to use your talents as fully as you can. Do that with dedication and the results will put you in a position to help other people.

Many people who think of themselves as spiritual have real money troubles. Often it is because they are trying to live apart, in a higher world, and they believe money belongs to the ordinary one. Yet having enough could give them the freedom to spend more of their lives learning and teaching, for themselves and for others.

A lot of how we feel about money comes from what we have lived through. Past experience of going without, or of greed up close, colours everything.

Knowing when it is enough

The Dalai Lama has written about this. His point, in my words, goes something like this. Desire on its own is never satisfied. You could have the whole world at your feet and it would still not be enough. And wanting too much brings its own disappointment and suffering.

Picture yourself very rich, with a huge store of food. You still have one mouth and one stomach. Eat enough for two and it will harm you. So it is wiser to set your limits at the start, and be content inside them.

That is the balance I come back to. Want what lets you live well and help others. Know where your line is, and be happy on your side of it.

After 50 the question often changes shape. It becomes less about how much and more about how much is enough, and what you would like the rest to do.

What it is for

Most of us need money to keep doing the work we care about and to look after the people who need us. Understood that way, prosperity can be a real spiritual asset.

From the archive. First written for my journal years ago, and rewritten for life after 50.