There are eight degrees in the giving of charity one higher
than the other:
He, who gives grudgingly,
reluctantly or with regret.
He who gives less than he
should, but gives graciously.
He who gives what he should,
but only after he is asked.
He who gives before he is
asked.
He who gives, without knowing
to whom he gives, although the recipient knows the identity
of the donor.
He who gives without making
his
identity known.
He who gives without knowing
to whom he gives, and the recipient not knowing from whom
he receives.
He who helps a fellowman to
support himself by a gift, or a loan, or by
finding employment for him, thus
helping him to become self-supporting.
Maimonedes
Valuing Life - the launch of
the Spiritual Euro!
How do you value your life
and that of others? Is it by success or happiness, or good
health, or good works? By what you get out of it, or by
what you contribute and put into it? Is it about job
satisfaction, a settled and happy family life, or pleasure,
fun and satisfying your own needs? Is it about security and
stability or risk and excitement? Is there a purpose to
your life? And have you any idea what it is?
The difficulty in answering the questions is that probably
it is about all of these things and finding a balance
between many voices both inner and outer that demand you
act in one way or another. However we live today in an
increasingly material world where value is most usually
measured in wealth, buying power, currency or market
forces. This single axis way of measuring life is
unbalanced and gives no way of valuing the spiritual. Thus
we have a footballer, whose primary skill is to kick a ball
around a field earning £50,000 a week, whilst a nurse who
devotes her time, energy and care to others in need earns a
pittance. Somehow our value system has become increasingly
unbalanced. Money rules everything. Market forces alone
determine what is valuable.
But what if there was another measurement? What if we not
only had material currency but spiritual currency? A way of
measuring the intangible spiritual contribution and
commitment we made to ourselves and the world? Let us call
it for the sake of the argument and to be right up to
date!, the 'Spiritual Euro"!
Perhaps to lead a balanced and valuable life, we not only
have to earn normal currency but Spiritual Euro's as well.
Then we find things are a little more difficult. We
wouldn't make decisions simply based upon which gives the
best return on investment in sterling or dollars, but also
which gives the best return on investment in Spiritual
Euros! Maybe investments in tobacco, arms, and the like
soon lose their appeal, since there are clearly few S.E's
in this kind of commodity. Maybe climbing the corporate
ladder is less appealing if the material achievement is not
balanced by S.E. achievement!
Maybe some professions are immediately much more valuable -
any that care or teach or help or contribute to the welfare
of mankind in general suddenly move up the ladder of value,
and those that take, destroy, and burden mankind go down
it. Of course, there will be huge arguments about what is
really of value. Do accountants add value? Do solicitors?
Do Artists? Do Manufacturers, Farmers, Therapists, Clergy?
Of course in some ways everyone does but to give a personal
example, there was a point in my life although outwardly
successful in normal career terms, when I asked myself what
I was doing. There has, I thought, to be something more
important and valuable than persuading people to buy
deodarant!!!
Is there any practical way we can adjust our present
systems to take account of the desire for a spiritual
measurement. I believe there is. Our present taxation
system has moved away from penalising high earners with tax
rates at prohibitive rates, to ostenisbly provide
encouragement for those with entrepreneurial skills and
leadership qualities to stay in this country and lead and
develop our businesses. So with a maximum 50% tax rate,
those high earners take home a substantial pay packet
regardless of tax, and those are the people who can afford
to pay the cleverest accountants to minimise their tax
liablities! What if instead, we adopted a Spiritual Tax! A
way of earning Spiritual Euros. Suppose we had a 75% tax
rate for all those earning over £100,000 a year. And the
25% difference didn't go directly to the government but
into a pool for 'good causes'. It provided money for
charity, to help the needy, to build homes for the
homeless, to encourage young people to be self sufficient,
to develop culture and art - in short to do ' good things'
for the community. Somehow I feel, those earning such high
salaries would begrudge paying such tax less, since they
would feel not only are they contributing to the material
wealth of themselves, their families and the country but
also earning lots of Spiritual Euros as well!! The Pool
could be run by a broad range of people, not just the
eminent but those from all classes and walks of life. It
would not be a permanent post and members of the Pool would
have to turn over every couple of years to avoid
favouritism. Maybe there would be 'Pools' in the plural,
work locally and therefore the good works would be seen and
noted in each locality, not lost in a vast general pool of
money which gave no clear picture of how the money is
spent.
It seems eminently simple and practical and would provide
real value for everyone. A few footballers and heads of
recently denationalised industries might have to eat out a
little less, or downsize their cars, but it is unlikely
anyone would suffer unduly. Furthermore their sizeable bank
of Spiritual Euros would actually elevate them personally
and publicly. Can you see a downside to this plan???!!!!!
Voting for it would of course add to your own bank of
Spiritual Euros as mine has been enhanced by positing it in
the first place!!!
© Laurie Phillips
Thursday December 2nd 1999