Don't Serve the RichServe the True and the Good

A mind that spends its life in pursuit of wealth may achieve at its end what many undisciplined minds have at the beginning through no effort of their own. A mind that devotes itself to intellectual and moral perfection reaches new heights of excellence with each passing year. Which life have you chosen? It's never too late to change your mind and make the right choice.

The idea that a fine mind like yours should devote itself to a goal no different from the mediocre minds of shopkeepers would be absurd if it weren't so tragically common. Of course we have to devote a small amount of intellectual effort to meeting our physical needs. But those who devote their intellectual life to obtaining luxuries and status symbols only show how low a value they set on intellect.

If you are at all disposed to think and study, the value of your mind far surpasses all the wealth mindless shopkeepers can ever offer you. They try to lure you into their web by offering you glittering prizes. Don't be fooled. The sacred temple of the mind, where human beings pursue the excellences that set us apart from animals, is to them no more than a factory. Once you enter their world you have conceded your exquisite mind is fit to be ruled by mediocre minds who inherit their wealth, by devious and cunning minds who have figured out how to scam the system, by retired dictators who flee to New York with their money, and by any other con artist or scam artist who happens to have dollars in his hands.

Your employer tells you he is interested in your intellectual development. But look more closely at what he means by intellectual development. You will see he means finding ways to serve him better, not finding ways to perfect your mind so it will serve only the true and the good.

Nothing like your mind has ever come into existence before. Nothing like your mind will ever come into existence again. Don't squander this opportunity to become perfect in precisely the way you and you alone can.

The saints and sages are there waiting for you to read and study. They are willing to tell you how to set your mind on a path toward excellence. But you will never read them if you're too busy listening to inferior minds with dollars in their hands.