Spirituality and Money: Teachings Across Faiths

Labor Day and the Spiritual Meaning of Money

Key Points:

Labor Day in America, observed on September 5, honors the laborers’ contributions and underscores the significance of honest, diligent work. Money, often a measure of status and relations, can also blind us. Kahlil Gibran likens money to love: withholding it harms, and sharing enlivens.

Spirituality and Money Across Religions

Religions advocate simplicity and humility. Christianity warns against serving both God and money, for the love of money can breed grief. Islam emphasizes balanced spending, and its texts caution against the hold of money on hearts. Judaism finds meaninglessness in an obsession with wealth. Baha’i teaches that while we work for prosperity, our lives should align with higher ideals. Hinduism values detached wealth, urging its use for good. Buddhism acknowledges the positive effect of moderate wealth but urges transcending desire.

Daoism advises against wealth dominance, while Confucianism values wealth through ethical means, shunning extremes. Labor Day serves as a reminder: wealth is a tool to be used thoughtfully and shared generously.

Money and the Energy of Money

Every year, September 5 is celebrated as Labor Day in America, a day established by labor activists as a way to gain recognition for the hard work that laborers perform on a daily basis and their contributions toward the strength of the country as a whole. It is a celebration of making money through honest, hard work.

Money is the currency with which we transact with the world. It often defines our place in society and our relationships with others. Unfortunately, sometimes, it can overpower and blind us, too.

The secret is to view money — like any other source of pleasure — as having limitations. It is merely a means to an end, a servant rather than a master. Attachment to it is dangerous. Clearly, the correlation between money and happiness is tenuous, for why would some of the wealthiest people also be some of the most dissatisfied? Money has to flow for it to really have value. As the wise philosopher Kahlil Gibran said: “Money is like love — it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow man.”

Spiritual Energy of Money in Sacred Teachings

At a very basic level, all religions prescribe humble and simple living. Most saints were simple wandering ascetics. Jesus was poor, dwelt among the poor, and spent 40 days in the desert without any possessions. Mahatma Gandhi inspired many with his simple cloth tunic, a symbol of surrendering worldly wealth in favor of a simple, spiritual life.

Judaism and Islam uphold charity, while Hindus believe that it is the greatest source of good karma. Buddhism, which equates suffering with desire, naturally cautions against money as it feeds desire. Taoism emphasizes the pursuit of simplicity in all things, suggesting that money and material possessions can complicate life.

The Spiritual Way of Making Money and Ethical Wealth

And yet, there must not be guilt associated with having wealth. Confucius reminds us that fetishizing poverty is as foolish as fetishizing wealth. In times of prosperity, there is nothing wrong with having money. But when others are struggling, we should be careful to ensure that our wealth is not earned at their expense. Money reflects abundance. Abundance is a privilege. Abundance must be shared.

Money and Spiritual Progress in Modern Life

Findings from modern psychology indicate that money up to a certain point (for instance, a roughly $75,000/year income in the US) helps increase happiness but not beyond that.

Having a comfortable income makes us happier because it eliminates many of the survival stresses that come from not having enough money to eat or have adequate shelter or emergency savings. But beyond this point, additional money does not correlate with additional happiness. Money as a necessary resource can enhance life, but holding money as a guiding value, chasing more of it after we have enough, can become a curse that may actually be detrimental to happiness.

Spiritual Currency in World Religions

Christianity

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”— The New Testament (Matthew 6:24), Christian text

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”— The New Testament (1 Timothy 6:10), Christian text