![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/easy-street.jpg\" "\\"easy")
<\/a><\/p>\nClick here to listen to the message. \u00a0See below to read.<\/p>\n\n
<\/p>\n
Winning a big lottery jackpot is dream for most of us.\u00a0 I confess to buying a ticket or two when the winning amount gets large enough.\u00a0 Rationally, I know the odds of winning are greater than me being elected President \u2013 but I buy a ticket anyway by consoling myself that somebody must win.\u00a0 And, during the time leading up to the drawing, I think about all the ways I might use the money \u2013 often thinking of the many ways I would help family and friends.\u00a0 You can just imagine the wonderful church building I\u2019ve built in my mind with my fantasy winnings.<\/p>\n
Sadly, though, many people only half jokingly refer to the lottery as their retirement savings plan.\u00a0\u00a0 And, as we know, the lottery and other forms of gambling are highly regressive forms of taxation.\u00a0 The poor and those least able to afford buying tickets are often the ones who buy them the most \u2013 visions of becoming an instant millionaire dance in their heads too.<\/p>\n
Just as sad, though, are the very common but unlucky stories of some who do win lottery jackpots of significant size.\u00a0 Michael Carroll of Great Britain won nearly 20 million dollars but within ten years had lost it all.\u00a0 He says he spent it on gambling, drugs and prostitutes.\u00a0 \u201cThe party is over and I haven\u2019t got two pennies to rub together,\u201d he says now.\u00a0 \u201cI find it easier for me to live off of 42 pounds than to have millions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn Adams won 6 million in the New Jersey lottery but also lost it to a drug addiction.\u00a0 She now lives in a rented trailer with a roommate.\u00a0 \u201cI made mistakes, some I regret, some I don\u2019t.\u201d she says.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m human.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or, take the example of the Greenwich, Connecticut group of office workers who split a 245 million dollar jackpot.\u00a0 Office lunches became impossible because of resentment by those who did not win.\u00a0 There were many lost friendships, bitter office fights, lawsuits and many of those who won decided to move to new homes even though they had planned to stay where they had lived.\u00a0 It seems their neighbors no longer spoke to many of them and some even had their properties vandalized.<\/p>\n
Oren Dorrell thought he and his wife were being prudent when they invested all of their lottery winnings in low risk savings bonds.\u00a0 He wanted to continue working at his old job and use the winnings as his retirement fund.\u00a0 But, it seems friends and neighbors turned away from he and his wife.\u00a0 \u201cThere go those lottery snobs\u201d people would say.\u00a0 Dorrell believes most people are resentful of someone who instantly wins big.<\/p>\n
Finally, there is the story of William Bud Post who won 16 million in 1998.\u00a0 His brother hired a hit man to kill William after conspiring to being named in the will.\u00a0 Other relatives of William persuaded him to invest in a business that soon failed.\u00a0 In 2006 he declared bankruptcy and six months later died of respiratory failure \u2013 due mostly to smoking which he had picked up again after winning the lottery.<\/p>\n
The most obvious lesson from such stories is that, clearly, money does not buy wisdom, friendships or happiness.\u00a0 And this might also be said of almost any other form of prosperity in life \u2013 an abundance of good health, great intelligence or fantastic wealth.\u00a0 Finding ourselves on the easy street of life is not always an instant ticket to contentment.\u00a0 As we have looked at over the last two weeks, determining our destiny is not a simple matter.\u00a0 Our lives are subject to often mysterious forces that have great influence over us.\u00a0\u00a0 Who we are, how we think and what we do in life are shaped by our genetics, how we were raised and by random events.\u00a0 But, we also know that we can and must take charge of our lives \u2013 acting as so called Captains of our souls \u2013 helping to guide our lives despite the unseen forces that affect us.\u00a0 In that regard, when faced with inevitable hardships, we need not be mere pawns at the mercy of cruel fate.\u00a0 Adversity can be surgery to our souls \u2013 helping us grow as people, even as we struggle through pain and heartbreak.\u00a0 As Nietzsche said, \u201cThat which does not kill us, makes us stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what should our response be to the times in our lives when we figuratively land on easy street \u2013 when life is going well, when we are generally happy, healthy and wealthy enough to provide for our basic needs and a few modest pleasures?\u00a0 We intuitively know that adversity can be good for us and that we should use hardship as an opportunity, but how do we react to prosperity?\u00a0 How do we respond to the good times in life?\u00a0 What is a spirituality for easy street living?<\/p>\n
According to the teachings of Buddha, there are three types of people in our world.\u00a0 The first type of person is figuratively blind in both eyes. \u00a0One eye is blind to opportunities for prosperity or success in any area of life.\u00a0 He or she will sadly fail at almost every life endeavor.\u00a0 The second eye is also figuratively blind.\u00a0 The person has no wisdom and is blind to seeing or understanding right from wrong.\u00a0 He or she has no virtue and never will.\u00a0 Unsuccessful and lacking in common morality \u2013 this person is not a model citizen.<\/p>\n
The second type of person is blind in only one eye.\u00a0 He or she will succeed in at least one area of life and find basic life security.\u00a0 One eye, at least, is able to see ways to achieve.\u00a0 But, most importantly, this second type of person has only partial perception of right and wrong.\u00a0 There is limited ability to act with kindness and one is often angry, bitter, depressed or hate filled. \u00a0This person will only partially prosper in life and will struggle to find real peace.<\/p>\n
The third type of person is symbolically fully sighted.\u00a0 He or she has the wisdom to see and know how to succeed and find prosperity.\u00a0 This third type of person is also able to see and know right from wrong.\u00a0 As the Buddha said, only a person who is capable of seeing out of both eyes, how to succeed AND how to be at peace with the self and the world, only this person is an ideal human.\u00a0 He or she is humble, patient, content, empathetic, compassionate, even-tempered, free of strong temptations and just.\u00a0 Indeed, this person has achieved a state of enlightenment \u2013 an elusive way of being<\/em><\/strong> that is the goal for any person.<\/p>\n Most people live somewhere in the second category, somewhere between the two extremes of total blindness and complete sight.\u00a0 We know how to navigate the responsibilities of life to work and care for ourselves but we lack full enlightenment in how to find inner peace and in how to be perfectly loving and compassionate people.\u00a0 Life, for many of us, is a continual quest to see things in a better and more generous light.<\/p>\n What we ultimately seek is soul<\/em><\/strong> prosperity.\u00a0 While financial prosperity sounds wonderful, most people usually come to a realization that a better form of easy street living is to have a prosperous soul \u2013 one that is wise, virtuous and at peace.\u00a0 From the Buddha, we see that many people find certain forms of prosperity in their lives \u2013 financial wealth, work success, strong health, great intelligence or athletic prowess.\u00a0 But very few find the kind of soul prosperity that leads to enlightenment.\u00a0 It is that soul prosperity which speaks to any of us \u2013 Buddhist or not \u2013 as a response to how we respond to the easy street times in life.\u00a0 How can we prosper our souls not only when the going gets tough \u2013 as we looked at last week \u2013 but when the going is smooth and easy.\u00a0 Indeed, I contend that it is far tougher to find soul prosperity when times are good.\u00a0 We are prone to grow and learn more during adversity.\u00a0 But easy street living can also be times for growth if we are so intentional.<\/p>\n Paul tells us in the Bible that money is NOT the root of all evil.\u00a0 Indeed, he turned to several wealthy followers for his support.\u00a0 Jesus also did not condemn wealth.\u00a0 He even befriended and used the efforts of a rich little man named Zaccheus \u2013 the one who climbed into a tree, the better to see the famous Jesus \u2013 and the one who repented of his greedy ways and committed himself to a life of giving and serving.\u00a0 The Buddha acknowledged that money and the making of money are not bad.\u00a0 Indeed, Buddha taught that money can bring moral happiness \u2013 happiness in the owning and taking care of things, happiness in knowing one\u2019s money was earned by a right livelihood \u2013 one that benefitted and does not harm humanity, happiness from not being in debt and happiness from sharing one\u2019s wealth.\u00a0 Prosperity, he taught, is a good thing if it is used wisely and rightly.<\/p>\n In that regard, any form of personal prosperity is good if it is used rightly.\u00a0 If one is blessed with great intelligence, does one use it for the good of humanity or to do harm?\u00a0 If one has great athletic ability, does one use that strength to help others or for selfish and narcissistic reasons?\u00a0 What the Bible and Buddha both imply through their teachings is that having a surplus of money or of anything else are not bad.\u00a0 What harms our souls is to love money, love our intelligence, beauty, or athleticism over and above a love for other people.\u00a0 And that is a clear danger area for easy street living.\u00a0 Do we come to love that which has brought us to easy street?\u00a0 Or do we recognize an obligation and a soul necessity to use the prosperity for higher goals?<\/p>\n A Buddhist ethic for any form of prosperity is to do good.\u00a0 \u201cWhen you protect others,\u201d the Buddha said, \u201cyou protect yourself.\u201d\u00a0 When we are living on easy street and find ourselves comfortable, the goal must be to live a balanced life.\u00a0 One must not relate happiness with prosperity nor sadness to a lack of it.\u00a0 We are called not to waste wealth but to use it wisely.\u00a0 And, hoarding wealth for its mere accumulation is equally harmful to our souls \u2013 we learn to love what we unreasonably save.<\/p>\n The Buddha said there are three virtuous advantages to having prosperity.\u00a0 First, one can assist and take care of friends and family.\u00a0 He compared this to a beautiful lake with crystal clear waters that flows deep and teems with fish.\u00a0 Such a lake lies next to a village and serves its people who draw from it to drink, bathe and eat.\u00a0 Prosperity is also a safeguard against misfortune \u2013 the same as having enough water to put out a fire.\u00a0 And, having wealth allows one the pleasure to give it to worthy charities and organizations.<\/p>\n To live a balanced and virtuous life when living on easy street, the Buddha urged people to practice sacrifice.\u00a0 All people must practice some form of renunciation \u2013 to give up and sacrifice for the well being of others.\u00a0 While the ethical ideal is to give up everything and live as a monk, the Buddha recognized this was not wise for all people.\u00a0\u00a0 Even so, all people must sacrifice, in some way, for others \u2013 through liberal giving, caring for one\u2019s family or fellow beings, or volunteering time to strangers. These all require a sacrifice of money, time and talent.\u00a0 Such sacrifices prevent us from falling in love with what has made us comfortable.\u00a0 Indeed, sacrifice makes us uncomfortable,<\/span><\/em><\/strong> and that is a good thing.\u00a0 We intuitively remind ourselves that while life might be easy one moment, it can turn difficult in a split second.<\/p>\n In my research for this message, I came across a story about one of the wealthiest men in America but one whom I doubt very many people know.\u00a0 John Feeney made his fortune, estimated at over 8 billion dollars, by founding the Duty Free Shopping system.\u00a0 Despite his massive wealth, this 80 year old man wears very cheap suits, he wears an old Timex watch, he uses a plastic bag for a briefcase and he lives in a cramped one bedroom reantal apartment in San Francisco.\u00a0 Feeney was changed, he says, after reading Andrew Carnegie\u2019s 1889 essay entitled \u201cThe Gospel of Wealth,\u201d in which Carnegie admonishes the wealthy to use their money to help others and to \u201cset an example of modest, unostentatious living and shun displays of wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1996, Feeney set up a foundation and proceeded to give it nearly all of his money.\u00a0 Contrary to how most foundations are run which try and preserve wealth for as long possible \u2013 the better to enrich executive directors and board members, \u00a0Feeney structured his foundation so that it would give away all of the 8 billion dollars by 2016 and thus cease to exist.\u00a0 Feeney\u2019s favorite Irish proverb says this, \u201cThere are no pockets on death shrouds.\u201d<\/p>\n Feeney refuses to allow so much as a plaque be placed in his honor at any location receiving his money.\u00a0 He will not allow his name to be used in connection with his giving and it is a part of a contract with any recipient organization that if they disclose he is a benefactor, his money will stop.\u00a0 \u2018It doesn\u2019t matter who paid for a building,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cThe important thing is that it gets built.\u201d\u00a0 So far, he has given away nearly 4 billion dollars \u2013 mostly to biomedical research centers \u2013 but also to progressive causes like efforts to stop homophobia in Africa, lobbying efforts against the death penalty in New Jersey, medical supplies to Cuban doctors and money to support the Irish Republican Army political wing Sinn Fein.\u00a0 His favorite charity is Operation Smile \u2013 an organization that provides free cleft lip and palate repair surgery to children around the world \u2013 one that I am proud to say my father served for several years as a surgeon.<\/p>\n Feeney recently agreed to allow a biography be written about him \u2013 one entitled \u201cThe Billionaire Who Wasn\u2019t\u201d.\u00a0 His motivation to be more open is to try and nudge other wealthy individuals to share their wealth.\u00a0 He likes to cite the fact that if the wealthiest 14,000 taxpayers in the country gave away only one-third of their annual income, that would amount to 61 billion dollars each year.\u00a0 He cannot understand why those who have no need for more money continue to hoard it and will not give some of it away.\u00a0 \u201cIts not my role in life to tell rich people what they should be doing with their money,\u201d Feeney says. \u201cI\u2019m just convinced if people gave money to things they\u2019ve identified as being in the public interest, they\u2019d get a great satisfaction out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n For all of us \u2013 as mere mortals who are likely to never win a lottery or be worth 8 billion dollars, we can still find lessons in life for how to deal with material, financial, physical or emotional prosperity.\u00a0 At those times when we are living large on easy street, Buddhist ethics sound convincingly wise.\u00a0 Live in balance.\u00a0 Refuse to derive happiness from prosperity.\u00a0 Look, instead, for opportunities to find well-being and soul prosperity from giving, serving, loving, and growing.\u00a0 Adversity will likely soon enough teach us its own lessons.<\/p>\n Our call, my friends, is to live under constant reminder that we are richly blessed.\u00a0 No matter who we are or what we have in life, we have been given so much.\u00a0 Yes we work, yes we seek wisdom, yes we strive to be humble.\u00a0 But life itself is a gift, loved ones are like icing on top of our cakes, pleasures in life are cherries of satisfaction.\u00a0 With all that we have, we truly must find ways to sacrifice for the sake of others.\u00a0 And we must find ways to sacrifice for the sake of our own souls.\u00a0 At the end, when we are beckoned into a beautiful eternity, may it be said that we each entered that journey with the wealthiest of souls.<\/p>\n I wish you all much peace, joy and a Happy Father\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Message 98, Destination Life: Easy Street, 6-17-12 \u00a9 Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved Click here to listen to the message. \u00a0See below to read. Winning a big lottery jackpot is dream for most of us.\u00a0 I confess to buying a ticket or two when the winning amount gets large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}