The Book of Ten Sayings 5

 

The fifth of the ten deepest statements of wisdom, that, if followed as a set of life guiding principles, will bring both joy and courage, strength and justice, circumspection and maturity to whoever strives to live by them. As with many principles for finding wisdom, this fifth saying involves decision making, for life is all about making decisions, and the better the decisions the more successful and happier the life. The fifth saying is, 

The more you get, the more you have; the more you give, the more you are.

  It seems to be a fundamental principle of human nature that we are born selfish, greedy, and avaricious. Even as toddlers (or maybe earlier?) we want to grasp everything dangled in front of our eyes. We can never get enough of the possessions of life. Often, we don't even bother to play with each new toy, because, after all, "He who dies with the most toys wins." The mantra says nothing about actually playing with the toys. The goal is acquisition. So, long before Johnny could buy a shiny new pick up truck and paste a bumper sticker on it saying, "He who dies with the most toys wins," Johnny had been dipped in the materialist cultural tea that was floating everywhere around him and he was easily converted into a committed consumer. 

  As we grow up, we fill increasingly large toy chests with increasingly costly toys, now often referred to as "tools" and every year our "need" grows for larger booty. The first apartment squeezed into by the couple with the kid and the dog, soon gives way to the two bedroom house, then the three, four, and five bedroom house, still with one kid and a dog because the couple are too tired from working long and hard enough to have another kid. Then one day they see this saying and think about it. Their first reaction is to mock the saying, claiming that it must have been written by an envious person of lower economic status than they. However, they both awaken the next morning with the thought that the saying is true: "Our houses are full, but our lives are empty." Everywhere they could find stuff, but nowhere could they find meaning. 

  This saying is also connected with the concept of generosity and with the fourth traditional Christian virtue of charity, which in the old days meant love.