Material Encounters
What Should I Do?
One common question that many young people have had regarding money, is - "What should I do?" Often this is raised in relation to managing money, and particularly investing. This is an important question that essentially has  to do with our life's purpose and what we think it to be. Let's explore.

For many young people, one aspect of the question 'what should I do?' is based in the feeling that one's finances, especially when young people are just starting their careers, are spread so thin. Between rent, a car, food, being with friends, school loans, that new iPod, what money is there to manage? And how do I fit in investing or long term planning in? Insight into this question comes, interestingly enough, from the guidance received from the Baha'i World Center about the Five Year Plan (the global strategy for growth and community building and development the entire Baha'i world is embarked on).

When you get down to it, the Five Year Plan is all about identifying those things that lead to sustainable growth on every level - spiritually, materially, and numerically. And the purpose of this growth is the betterment of the world, to play our part in carrying "forward an ever-advancing civilization." This process, this way of thinking, can be applied to the life of the individual and family as well. What in our lives contributes to growth, both spiritually and materially? How can you sustain this growth and contribute to the betterment of the world over a lifetime? The answers are unique to each individual, but there may just be a "framework for action", to borrow the phrase from the Universal House of Justice, in our own lives that propels us forward as much as this framework, composed of systematic activity and simultaneous action and reflection, propels the large community forward. Another element of the Five Year Plan that can shed some light is the guidance from the Universal House of Justice about focus.

In recent letters to the Baha'i world, the Universal House of Justice has encouraged a focus on those things that advance the community and that are the most important right now and to "avoid distractions."* Again, it's important to think about how this can play out in our personal lives. Given where you are in life and where you want to go, what are the most important things for you to do right now? Although it may not seem like it, planning for the long term might just be one of those things because it involves deciding how you want to live your life, including marriage, kids, career, and retirement. The tricky part is understanding what are the most important things to you and what are distractions. Is a new car or vacation the most important? Investing in an IRA for your retirement? Which of these might be distractions. Only you know for sure, but it's important for us to think through these things.

Another aspect of this question has to do with the plight of humanity. How can I invest in the stock market, for example, when there are people all over the world suffering? How can I use my money to ease the suffering of others? This is an important question. The Universal House of Justice wrote on this theme, saying that

Because love for our fellowmen and anguish at their plight are essential parts of a true Baha'is life, we are continually drawn to do what we can to help them. It is vitally important that we do so whenever the occasion presents itself, for our actions must say the same thing as our words - but this compassion for our fellows must not be allowed to divert our energies... causing us to neglect the most important and fundamental work of all. There are hundreds of thousands of well-wishers of mankind who devote their lives to works of relief and charity, but a pitiful few to do the work which God Himself most wants done: the spiritual awakening and regeneration of mankind.**

Reading this quote at first glance it might prove difficult to see how finances fit into this picture, how it fits into the "spiritual awakening and regeneration of mankind." But if we remember what Baha'u'llah said, that God Himself "hath made the fulfillment of every undertaking on earth dependent on material means", we can see how important our own financial stability is to the regeneration of humanity. This is true both on an individual level, since you need material means to accomplish what your soul prompts you to do, but also on a national and international level, as the work of the Baha'i community needs support  to carry out its work at every level. In this light, wanting to make money, whether through our profession and/or by investing, can be a very spiritual act as long as it is used to those ends.

So to come back to the original question, what should we do with our money? The bottom line is that as individuals and as a society we need to be prayerfully inspired, to reflect on our spiritual and financial goals and the intricate, even mystical, relationship between the two. Once we do this, as much as each of us is able, we can gain greater insight into and attract blessings from these luminous words by 'Abdul-Baha: "O God, my God! Illumine the brows of Thy true lovers...for they are expending on Thy pathway what Thou hast bestowed upon them, safeguarding Thy Faith, putting their trust in their remembrance of Thee, offering up their hearts for love of Thee, and withholding not what they possess in adoration for Thy Beauty and in their search for ways to please Thee...."

*Ridvan 2007, The Universal House of Justice, To the Baha'is of the World

**The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. 127

Comments

[Lev R.]

Thank you for linking financial development so clearly to the aims of the Five Year Plan. This is a wonderful set of concepts for anyone working to understand the spiritual underpinnings of giving sacrificially. I know our family will be discussing this post in the near future.

Recently at a discussion night, the notion of marriage as a "wealth-generating institution" came up. Perhaps that could be a future topic? (I'm not even sure I know what it means!)