33. Wealth is More than Material Possessions

The highest manifestation of life consists of this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.

-Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

FOR MOST PEOPLE, WEALTH is far more than money and material possessions. It is love, family, friends, accomplishments, and gaining inner meaning to one’s life that trump all that can be bought with the billions of the richest billionaires. Some are born with greater prospects for a good life than others, but where we begin is where we must learn to make our choices to achieve the best life we can from our circumstances. Those who spend their lives engaged in blaming others for their misery will generally continue to experience misery.

Daniel Robinson describes four possibilities for the good life from a philosophical view. They are the contemplative life of thought and examination, the active life of going out into the world and doing something, the hedonistic life of living and enjoying the pleasures of each day, and the fatalistic life of accepting every aspect of life as though it were written for us.⁶² Undoubtedly, there are many other possibilities for the good life, but no one can dictate the characteristics of that life for another.

In his A Theory of Justice, John Rawls argues that State policies should be arranged (enforced) so they are always advantageous to the least advantaged group. When he identifies the least advantaged by their economic status, however, he demeans the very essence of life. He demeans the lives of “poor” poets, artists, philosophers, and clerics. He disparages self-accomplishment and becoming oneself. For a poet or a philosopher, money cannot buy self-fulfillment. Often, the financially less advantaged have more rewarding lives than the most financially advantaged. Would a philosopher gain advantage by exchanging his passion for knowledge for the financial holdings of Bill Gates or Michael Jordan? Would John Rawls or Mother Teresa have considered themselves less advantaged than Bill Gates? I suspect not!

⁶²Daniel Robinson, The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd ed., Lecture 50 (The Teaching Company, 2004).