Is it wrong to want to be wealthier?

As a researcher into the many different forms of personal development I frequently come across books, coaching programmes etc which promise to help their purchasers become wealthier.  I find many of these long on promises but short on results, and those go no further than my desk.  But some are genuine.  Recently I have come across several genuine such systems based around the Law of Attraction, which I know works as long as it is used properly, and I have been recommending some of these to members of my exclusive subscription list.

What I have found enlightening, though, is that many people who rely on me to conduct this kind of research tell me they are not interested in becoming wealthier.  Some even seem to object to the whole idea, as though it is morally abhorrent in some way.  So I thought this would be a good time to look at whether wanting to be wealthier really is, in some way, a bad thing.

Let me begin by telling you a story about two brothers.  We will call them Luke and John.  They were born into a family that, whilst not outright poor, nevertheless had little spare money left once all the essential bills were paid.  Both brothers wanted their lives to really mean something, to help others who were less fortunate.  But they also needed to earn a living, and as with most of us this really took up most of their time.  They began their working lives as junior managers in a big international company.  Luke stayed there, and managed each month to put aside $500 for charity.  This was as much as he could afford.

John, on the other hand, decided that this was not enough.  But he was on around the same salary as Luke, so he couldn’t really afford more than this.  What John decided to do instead was set up his own business, giving him the chance of creating more wealth, which he could then use for charitable purposes.  Luke was unhappy about his brother’s decision, saying he had sold his soul to the devil by wanting to build his fortune, but John took no notice.

For the first few years John could only afford to donate to charity a fraction of what his brother was donating.  But then his business grew and grew, as John was successfully practising Law of Attraction techniques.  After only 5 years John owned a multi-million dollar business.  The business itself helped a number of charities, and John personally donated $5,000 a month to charity as well as living a much wealthier lifestyle than his brother Luke.

My question here is who was doing the greater good – Luke or John?  You may correctly answer we don’t have enough information, as we don’t know what each brother was like in his day to day life.  How each treated the people they met etc.  But if we assume they both retained their original loving personalities I think you will agree John must be doing the greater good – as he has much greater resources to do so.

You see, wealth itself is certainly not evil.  It all depends on what you do with that wealth.  If you are selfish and try to hold on to it all and not use any of it to help others, then this is clearly not a good thing.  But someone who is like that may be just as selfish whether they have $1 or $1,000,000 spare.  What is wrong is not the money but the attitude of the person who owns it.  You could compare money with a natural force like electricity - it is neither good nor bad, but neutral.  If you use it to light your house and read a good book which ends up making you a better person, then that is good.  But if you use it to electrocute someone and kill them that is clearly bad.

If you see the acquisition of wealth as a means to an end, and the end is good, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be wealthier – obviously provided you use ethical means to acquire that wealth.

Some of my Christian readers may say that the Bible says money is the root of all evil, but it does not say this at all.  So many people misquote the passage from 1 Timothy 6:10.  What St Paul actually said in this passage was:

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

The love of money, rather than the love of the good you will be able to do if you acquire it in the right way.  That is very true.  If you love just the money itself you will want to try and hold on to it and end up not using it for good – and that is wrong.  But it is certainly not wrong to want to acquire money to have a better lifestyle if you are also going to use some of your wealth to improve the lot of others.

So, is it wrong to want to be wealthier?  My answer as a personal development researcher is a resounding “No!”  Go for it!  Use the Law of Attraction properly to become wealthier, and then see what good uses you can make of that wealth as you begin to acquire it!