The Inequality of Riches

The inequality of riches is one of those problems one tries in vain to resolve if one considers only the present life. The first question that  presents itself is: Why are all humans not equally wealthy? They are not equally wealthy for one very simple reason: they are not equally intelligent, active and industrious enough to acquire wealth, or moderate and foresightful enough to preserve it. Furthermore, it is a mathematically demonstrated fact that if wealth were divided equally, it would give each person a minimal and insufficient portion; that if such division were carried out, the equilibrium would soon be shattered due to the diversity in character and aptitudes; that if the division were possible and lasting, with each person having only enough to live on, it would be the end of all the great endeavors that contribute to the progress and well-being of humankind; that if it provided each person with what is necessary,  there would no longer be the stimulus that compels humans to great discoveries and worthwhile enterprises. If God concentrates wealth in certain areas, it is because from there it expands in sufficient quantities, according to the necessities.

In accepting this fact, one might ask why God grants wealth to persons who are incapable of making it fruitful for the good of all. This is yet another proof of God’s wisdom and goodness. By giving humans free will, God wanted them to reach the point where, through their own experience, they could distinguish between good and evil, and that the practice of the good be the result of their own efforts and will. Humans must not be fatalistically led either to good or evil or they would be nothing more than passive and irresponsible animal-like instruments. Wealth is a means of testing them morally; but since it is simultaneously a powerful means of inducing progress, God does not wish for it to remain unproductive for long, and thus moves it around  incessantly. All persons will possess it at one time or another in order to try their hand at it, and to test the use they make of it. However, since it is physically impossible for all to possess it at the same time, and, moreover, if all did possess it, no one would work and the improvement of the planet would be compromised; each individual possesses it in turn. The one who does not possess it today has either had it already or will have it in a future life; and the one who possess it now might not have it tomorrow. There are both the rich and the poor, because, since God is just, each must work in turn. Poverty is for some a test of patience and resignation; wealth is for others a test of charity and self-denial.

The lamentable use that some persons make of their wealth and the ignoble passions that greed provokes are rightly deplorable, and one might ask if God is really just in giving it to such persons. It is certain that if humans had only one life to live, nothing would justify such a division of earthly wealth; however, if instead of limiting our vision to the present life we would consider the whole sequence of lives, we would see that everything balances out justly. Hence, the poor no longer have reason to accuse Providence or to envy the rich, and the rich no longer have any reason to gloat over what they possess. If they abuse it, it is not with decrees or sumptuary laws that wrongs will be righted. Laws can temporarily change one on the outside, but they cannot change one’s  heart; that is why these laws have a temporary duration and are always followed by a reaction even more unrestrained. The source of the evil resides in selfishness and pride. Abuses of every kind will cease by themselves when humankind rules itself according to the law of charity.