Page 133 - Mystic Pathways through the Bible

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business or to become economically secure. In this way they are confusing “poverty” with the profound mystical concept of “poor in spirit.”
Many religious systems have adopted the idea that those who are devoted to God should become monks and not own anything at all. This tradition is based on the understanding that the minds of people who are not highly advanced will be lured into having many possessions. As a result, they will be constantly concerned with those possessions and preoccupied with how to protect and multiply them.
In general, the ideal of simple living and high thinking is always to be valued: Not holding onto more than you need or becoming overly attached to what you possess. However, when you consider external poverty as an end in itself, then you simply remain physically deprived and mentally starved.
With deeper understanding you will realize that people who become materially poor are not necessarily in a better position to develop mental or spiritual advancement. If you are impoverished, you must beg from others and are looked down upon by society.
Further, there are misguided spiritual seekers who hide what they possess from others. When they see others’ possessions they say, “Look, he says he is an aspirant, and yet he just bought a new wrist watch! Look, he has no dispassion because he dresses in