Why do enlightened beings reject living a life of luxury and commodity that most humans strive for?

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The spiritual life is far far richer than any luxury could ever provide. When the rich young man asked Jesus what he could do to gain eternal life, Jesus earnestly told him to sell his possessions, give them to the poor, and follow him, for you will have riches in Heaven.

Jesus wasn’t offering the man a loss now in exchange for greater rewards later. No, the act of following Jesus would have made him instantly phenomenally rich, to the point where everything else is meaningless by comparison.

What does it mean for a life to be rich? It means that all of your inner, psychic needs are fulfilled. Yearning for better ceases. With luxury, there is always a bigger boat, always a bigger house. Have you ever seen one of those reality shows where rich people act like they’re miserable? Easy to roll your eyes and laugh it off. Buy your way out of your problems, rich man!

What makes you want material things is an inner need. The inner need can’t be fulfilled by the material thing, yet we fool ourselves into thinking it will, mostly because we can’t see what would actually fulfill it. Spiritual riches fulfills the actual need you have. They aren’t limited to silly frivolities.

The greatest things in life can’t be bought. Material wealth often brings out the worst in people. The stories of people becoming wealthy and then losing all their old friends and distancing themselves from family are legion.

But someone who is spiritually rich shines with an inner light. Alexander the Great was so impressed by Diogenes the Cynic that he stated he would grant Diogenes anything, just name it. Diogenes, who was living in a bathtub at the time, asked for Alexander to step out of his light. When Alexander left, he remarked, “If I had not been born Alexander, I would have liked to have been Diogenes.

When you are spiritually rich things just happen around you. You don’t have to lift a finger. You can find yourself in great fortune one second, and impoverished the second, and nothing really changed one way or the other for you. Going from rich to poor is like putting on a different set of clothes for the day. The things you find meaning in change.

Spiritual riches is like having the best big brother in the world, he beats up all your bullies, helps you with your homework, sneaks off with you to fool around when Mom’s not watching, gets you to take weird and crazy risks and then saves you at the last minute, just for funzies.

With a bro like that, who needs a yacht?