SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Relative Wealth

In a very distant country in a forgotten town, lived a very poor family. They were so poor that they had the sky as the roof of the house. One night, the owner of the small house, was watching the stars and saw a shining star and he thought:
" Oh, how much, I would like to have
one wish granted" And his wish was so strong that the fairy of the star listened and answered: " Your wish has being granted." To which, the man said: " We are a very poor family, I rise very early to work in a forgotten mine, looking for a small diamond, so my family can eat and the children can laugh. But this may be only an illusion."
And the fairy of the star said again:
" Your wish has been granted." And the man started thinking: " My family is very poor, but even in the most difficult times, we have always shared the small things, even bread. It would be wonderful to be able to give them more."
The following day, the man rose
early before sunrise and went to the mine and started digging. The day was long and difficult since he could not find anything. At the end of the day, when he was too tired to keep digging, he thought: " The fairy of the star deceived me, I did not get anything, my family will continue passing hunger and poverty. But, as he was coming out of the depth of the mine, he found that something was shining on the floor. He came closer and to his surprise, it was an enormous diamond. It was as large as a heart and it had beautiful reflections and even seemed carved. He could not believe what his eyes were seeing and his hands were touching. One thousand different ideas were galloping through his mind: To run and tell his family. To flee from that region. To buy a beautiful house, as well as jewels and luxuries. And seeing himself overwhelmed with wealth, his mind was seized by lust and bad ideas. And he thought: "They all are going to want and desire me, I will have the power of life and death" And immediately after, he thought about his wife and children and all the things that they could afford now: Dresses, perfumes, cars, celebrations, great meetings, elaborated dinners. And his mind was rejoicing with fantastic ideas that could come true. Then, he arrived to his humble home and his humble wife was waiting for him as usual. The man told her about his great finding, and after listening, she said: "Your finding is great, but our pain will be greater since everything that unite us now will no longer be important. The ties of love, will become the ties of power and these are most fragile, deceptive and corrupt.
There is no happiness in this. Our children will corrupt and they will not love us because of ourselves but because of our wealth and power" And the man understood and said: "You are right, it is true, we will lose everything" And the next morning, he rose early and taking the large as a heart diamond , he threw it very far. He returned home at night and his hands had diamond sparks, which would provide enough for them to live. But he also kept working and in this way he was sure that he would not lose his family. And the hours passed, came night time and as he watched the star again, she told him: "You truly found a treasure and wealth, but I would like you to know that I did not grant you anything, since the wealth was always in you" This story shows us something very important. Spirituality does not have anything against fortune and power. Man is the one who corrupts his heart, but for the one who has balance and peace, then, wealth is only a way to serve and to give, because if we act with charity and kindness, then, fortune and good will multiply.

Excerpt of the book
" Treasures of the Heart"
by Mr. Oscar Basurto