The Two Kinds Of Poverty

The first premise of this entry is that everyone lacks something and it is that deficiency that makes everybody poor.  All are therefore in need of some sort of infusion to feel whole.  Nobody is whole because of Original Sin, which is the black hole of the human race.  Similar to the black holes of the universe, the metaphoric black hole has an insatiable appetite that pulls into its cavity whatever that is around.

As the black hole expands from within, the urge to complete oneself grows with it.  It is that undefinable persistent inner emptiness that encapsulates a kind of poverty that is ubiquitous in that it plagues the whole human race, those disadvantaged as well as those with all the advantages.

However, throughout the ages, there are those who are blessed more than others, not because they have a lack of want, for everybody has wants, but because their wants are grounded in the spirit of poverty, like the wants of San Francesco d'Assisi and Sainte Bernadette Soubirous.  Not everyone cares to be poor in spirit like them, not because spiritual poverty is unattainable but because it is difficult to attain.

Being poor in spirit means humility before family and neighbor, friend and foe, and, of course, God.  With God, obedience is also necessary.  Poverty in spirit is accessible to all, including those blinded by their secular ideology, pride and hypocrisy.

While a person is defined by the amount of effort expended to embrace spiritual poverty, it is the permanent or momentary absence of that poverty that connects one to another, that makes every person equal to every other person.

Sadly, not everyone thinks that they are equal to everyone else.  Many of the politicians and the religious like to stand on their elevated podiums to lift those who are economically poor (refugees included) but few of them acknowledge and mention the "glass ceiling."  They express their compassion for the disadvantaged by resorting to their 140-character tweets or lengthy speeches, and from their impassioned words flow their crocodile tears.  These people are compassionate only to a point, and that point ends at the invisible "glass" boundary that delineates their turf, inside which their true colors show and their power begins.  That power is not to be questioned or challenged, certainly not by those over whom they dominate.  By virtue of their superior status, they are able to assure their own survival by giving away the public's money in exchange for votes in the case of politicians, and by spending charitable donations in order to provide for their own livelihood in the case of the religious.

This blog has always maintained that the poor are to be afforded assistance, but they are not to be used to gain votes or to give religion its purpose.

Based on a general understanding of the teachings of Christ, [1] it seems correct to conclude that the reason for Christ's incarnation was not to equalize the many different strata within a society, but to show one how to lower one's social stratum in order to love perfectly, so that man can complete himself, filling to the extent possible that cancerous black hole [2] inside him and in doing so, the world would be a more peaceful and less contentious place.  This conclusion is drawn based on the second premise that Jesus came not from a heaven of nothingness but a Heaven full of riches (other-worldly) that is beyond man's comprehension and yet, as God incarnate, Jesus Who knew what richness meant, never deemed it essential to turn stones into gold for the poor even though He had turned water into wine for a couple's wedding guests.



[1] It is good to remind readers again that this blogger does not study the Bible.  He uses it only as a reference and quotes it on an as-needed basis to lend credence to his opinions.
[2] Man's inner black hole is Satan's portal to Hell.