Theos-Talk Archives (April 1997 Message tl00080)

Doss wrote:
>    No one can say whether a lusty union will bring about a highly evolved
>souls or not. 

Agree!

>       Wealth and affluent conditions can be more distructive to the person
>in the long run than adverse conditions. How can adversity have any
>correlation with the development of the soul.

I'm not sure whether wealth or poverty will or will not affect a person.  I
think the main thing is the value taught.  In wealth, if the value is placed
on acquiring because you can have anything you want, then the person will be
a selfish sort.  In poverty, if the value is placed on acquiring because you
are impoverished, then the person will be a selfish sort.  A wealthy person
can be taught to sympathize for other beings, and a poor person can be
taught to develop self-respect, value education, and kindness.  My thinking
is that extreme poverty will have more of an influence than anything else.
If any one of us suddenly had everything taken away, see how generous we'll
be.  An old roommate of mine, who was from a wealthy family, had everything
taken away when Vietnam was taken over by the communists.  She found herself
in a situation in which a bowl of rice is precious.  She said that although
it is the Vietnamese tradition to offer your guests food when they visit,
she found herself being very selfish about her food.

>        When you look a the affluent conditions of USA and the high crime
>rate and the prisons overflowing with violent criminals and comparing it
>with the peaceful life that is led by the so called aborignes, I wonder
>which souls are more developed. The violent and destructive ones?

The difference between the USA and the aborigines is that the poor in the
USA know that they are poor.  They see that there are plenty of people in
better situations than they, they are angry, and they want those material
things.  The aborigines do not think that they are poor.  They have always
lived this way, their ancestors have lived this way, and their ways are
respected in their clan.  They had a tradition that supports them.
Unfortunately, with the invasion of civilization, the aborigines, like the
Native American Indians, are now plagued with alcoholism, etc.  

Sometime being rich or poor is a state of mind.  I know people with a house
and a sports car, and look at great envy at people with a boat.

>>>Also, not all works of genius are spiritual creation. I have known many
>>>intellectually brilliant people whose creation was for egos sake and who
>>>were a**holes.
>>
>>That includes just about everybody.
>>
>
>      Good to keep this in mind; it will preserve our sanity in the long run.

Socrates was forced to kill himself on charge of impiety.  That due to the
fact that he made people question their beliefs, people who were powerful
politicians.  He knew that he was ignorant, and had no patience with people
who do not think that they are.

Thoa