As St. Paul says,
Use your Christ consciousness
To look beyond
The material
To discover
True wealth
Your invisible life
Within.
After all,
Happiness
Has nothing to do
With idolizing money
Or pleasure, or deceit.
It's all about
Living with
The consciousness of Jesus
That all humans
(wherever they come from)
Are sisters and brothers.
MT 5:3 (Blessed are the poor in spirit)
In fact,
Christ's values
Are the exact opposite
Of the world's.
LK 12: 13-21 (Parable of the wealth-obsessed rich man who dies in his sleep)
So, don't be foolish
Worrying about
Inheritance and money
You didn't even work for.
After all,
Life's not about
How much you have.
Instead,
Laugh with Jesus
At fools who spend
Entire lives
Focused on mammon
Only to die
Before they've had time
To enjoy the rich Life
God has given
To everyone
Equally.
Notice how the readings lament and make fun of lives based on greed and focus on material accumulation. Such goals produce anxiety, sleeplessness, jealousy, and frustration. They end with a completely wasted life and early death.
As opposed to the Prosperity Gospel, this is what Jewish Wisdom Literature, the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth, and leaders like Marianne Williamson have to say about excessive material wealth. It's not the point of life. Instead, love, justice, and the inner peace and community they produce is what fullness of life is about.
Readings like today's remind us of the gloomy and literally unspeakable (i.e. off-limits for discussion) forces that drive our culture. They are encapsulated in our economic system that emphasizes individualism, competition, violence and fear. The system is capitalism-as-we-know-it.
By bringing that up and in terms of "dark psychic forces," Williamson places herself beyond normal political discourse. To mainstream commentators, that makes her puzzling, bizarre, weird, and "kooky," even kookier than those advocating the omnicide of nuclear war.
However, to those of us seeking escape from business as usual, it made her the best candidate on last Tuesday's stage.
The favorable reaction to Williamson's statements there shows that increasing numbers are recognizing her truth.
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