Balance is the key.
We are both individuals and part of a collective. What we do must work on both levels. If you are completely selfish the collective will suffer. If you are completely selfless the individual will suffer.
Yeshua told the rich man that it was very difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom. That's because wealth was a corruptive influence that likely meant you were taking more from society than you are giving.
Sometimes people misquote the bible saying "money is the root of all evil". This is because our imbalances result in extremist views that go beyond what the text says. When he says blessed are the poor, its not telling you to be poor. They collected tithes for the purpose of taking care of the poor. Everyone can't be poor. Poor is a relative term. If everyone had a penny then someone who finds an extra penny would be rich. But a society where the cost of living is more than a penny is a society that cannot support itself. In order to support the poor, people had to have enough extra to contribute. What was said about the poor was that they would have treasure in heaven. This simply means they would be returned to a state of balance. If "treasure" was the enemy then why would heaven be a place where treasures exist if it is not a place where sin is allowed to exist? Again, nothing is wrong with wealth itself.
The correct quote is "for the love of money is the root of all evil". In other words, what we're talking about is an "unhealthy attachment" to wealth, better known as "greed".
Is it necessary for some doctors to make $500,000 a year? No. The average person can't pay for this. Everything to do with a hospital is expensive. At least in the US. If you sleep at a motel you might pay $60-100. But if you have to involuntarily sleep at a hospital? The average insured overnight hospital stay is around $15,000. Does that sound right?
And so if you are unlucky enough to need surgery most people couldn't even afford that without the aid of an insurance company. Therefore we end up spending money we don't even need to spend just in case bad luck falls on us. The average premium for single coverage in 2022 in the US is around $8,000 per year.
So the bottom line is that in order for some professions to make the money they do, that money has to come from somewhere. Sure... one could argue that this salary is necessary because who would want to do it otherwise? Long hours. The possibility of your patient dying. The cost of education. The time spent getting that education.
Does every doctor do it in order to get paid? What about saving lives? Is that not enough motivation? Or are we training people to think that some jobs are just worth more? So why is it cheaper in other countries? This is just one example. People at the top of the corporate ladder make huge amounts of money and they simply make it the culture of that corporation that financial compensation is a carrot for good work; for making millions for the company and its shareholders. But again... that money has to come from somewhere.
When they make money it comes from their consumers and when they pay more money, for anything, it also comes from their consumers. And because the burden is borne by people outside the company, people who they don't have to care about, people who are imagined to have infinitely deep pockets, the prices of goods and services simply go up to compensate. This raises the cost of living and results in more people falling under the poverty line. This is often how one man's "heaven" becomes another man's hell. There is always a system of wealth distribution that dictates who will be the citizens of heaven and hell on an individual level.
To me, this system is Babylon. It's part of white supremacy because the tendency of white supremacy is to put in place systemic mechanisms to segment the classes of society, and the levels of the pyramid scheme so that they are more likely to find themselves in the middle. And the dream of the middle is to get to the top. Getting to the top from the bottom can happen, but statistically, even if you "earn it" via some talent you can perform, it is still and will always be a "lottery". This lottery gives off the impression of fairness while not being fair. The cost for the lottery is simply passed on to everyone who plays the lottery. You can't win if you don't play.
Why am I saying all this? What does this have to do with a personal heaven?
Yeshua was not wealthy, but as a rabbi, he provided a service to people that they were willing to pay for. He simply didn't have the trappings of a house and white picket fence because rabbis were traveling teachers. If he stayed in one place that would mean people would have to interrupt their daily lives and work in order to travel to him. His popularity made some people do this anyway and that led to the miracle of feeding the 5,000. Although this sounds impressive, it is also a logistical nightmare creating a burden that should not have existed. Imagine a Christian going to live at their pastor's house or even the church where he preaches. What if they give up their jobs? How would they be taken care of? Why would they expect to be taken care of by the person providing them with the service?
Yeshua talked to his disciples about being fishers of men. Fisherman is a profession. He told a parable of good stewardship. He said that the master gave his servants money to invest and the good servant was the one who gained the highest return on his investment. The servant who simply returned the money was called wicked and lazy. Again... Adam was responsible for building his garden. Whatever we have should go into building our garden but you don't just run out and spend all your money. This is a story about responsibility. You have to invest. If you make wise investments, if you are responsible with what you have, you can get more. If we don't have a rich employer to get money from (in addition to salary) we can get money from a bank.
We live in a capitalist society but that's not new. Society has been based on ownership for a long time; typically tied to the land. Having wealth, therefore, creates the power to invest and grow more wealth. But again... we are blinded by corruption; both in terms of gaining too much money (greed) but also in terms of avoiding money as well. It's not about avoiding money or being poor or rich. It's about being responsible with whatever you have. The more you have the more you can help others. If you are poor you are a burden to those who need to help you and could be helping someone else instead. Personally, I'd rather help someone who needs it rather than someone who is lazy or simply squanders opportunities.
If we do not teach our children how to get to the middle of this capitalist pyramid... if we do not invest in them and show them how to invest and how to build and how to create... if we don't give them the values of working hard and not being greedy... what world will they create?
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