Poverty Breeds Generosity; Wealth, Greed and Selfishness

William Quan Judge · Down to Earth Series · 9 pages

William Quan Judge's “Advantages and Disadvantages in Life,” first published in The Path Vol. X, July 1895, pages 123–35, reprinted in Dara Eklund's Echoes of the Orient: The Writings of William Quan Judge, second edition, Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, Vol. I, 2009, pages 483–85. An abstract and train of thoughts precedes the text, and the closing pages list further reading together with other ethical injunctions by Judge. The frontispiece is by Andy Tantowi Belzark.

The argument runs from a claim about the senses to a claim about circumstances. Constant steeping in the sensuous world weakens character instead of building it up, for the senses are likened to sweets which turn to acid inside the body. Karma is then defined in terms of what the Ego needs rather than what the man wants: good karma is the kind the Ego desires and requires, bad karma the kind it neither desires nor requires — which sets up the reversal the title announces. Struggle is described as needed for gaining strength, hard times for gaining depth, meagre opportunities for acquiring fortitude, and poverty for breeding generosity of spirit. The distinction Judge draws next is the sharpest point in the piece: poverty has no natural tendency to bring forth selfishness, whereas wealth requires it. From this he concludes that the much sought-after advantages of the good life — prosperity, comfort, even luxury with few problems or worries — are impediments to spiritual growth, and can only turn into the ashes of passion.

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