The Rich Road to Utopia

Unlike the Poor Road to Utopia, the rich do not travel alone.

Contrary to popular beliefs, being rich is not the same as being happy. The rich can have just as many miserable problems as the poor. They just have more ways to deal with them. And just like the poor, there are just as many traps, from addiction, to relationship nightmares.

The road to utopia for the rich, in a simple phrase, is to become poor.

Chirst told a rich young man, from a righteous family, who obeyed all the laws, and tithed and cared for the poor, that to enter the kingdom of heaven, he must give away all his riches and follow Christ. The man went away very unhappy, and Christ told the disciples the parable of the camel and the needle. The disciples lamented what chances then, would they and the poor have. Christ replied that all things are possible.

I don't think it is simply to give away all the money. I think it has to do with what Christ's ministry was all about. He was among the people, rich and poor, living with them daily, doing day-to-day activities. He lived among the people. One of the greatest misery of being rich is the isolation forced on them by their fame and riches. Poparazzi not withstanding, just the constant worrisome prudence of second-guessing people's motives when they are getting near, physically or emotionally, must be a tiresome burden. What Christ offered the rich young man was not just giving away the money, but the freedom that comes from not worrying about the money. I don't think it would have been enough for him to just, for example, make a huge donation to the temple. Christ never asked anyone to give money to his disciples, and least of all to himself. I think the road to utopia is to become personally involved in the lives of others, to give freely without reservation and without conditions, to use the power and influence that comes from riches, to raise the others out of poverty, out of misery. That was the kingdom of heaven that Christ asked of the young man. The difficulty comes from the habits of the rich. They become rich by habits of holding on, of acquiring, not of letting go, not of giving. An ancient Chinese proverb says that it is easier to move mountains and change the courses of rivers than it is to change habits and characters.

Yet, even though it is more difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, Christ has said that it is possible. Mathematically speaking, there is no topological reason that a camel cannot transform and morph through the eye of a needle. Similarly, there is no spiritual reason that a rich person cannot transform and enter the kingdom of heaven.

The same key, spiritual transformation, works for both the poor and the rich on the road to utopia. What does a society need to transform, then, in order for it to become utopia for both the rich and the poor, both the old and the young, for everyone?