THE MATERIAL AND THE IMMATERIAL

THE MATERIAL AND THE IMMATERIAL Unnatural Preference DEANA UPPAL, former Miss India-UK, who appeared on the British reality show, Celebrity Big Brother, introduced herself by saying that she was single and lived in a house with three servants. She added: “The greatest love of my life is money, because I don’t believe in love. Every man is, or will be, a cheater,” as was reported in The Delhi Times. On analysing these words of a celebrity the first point is that there is no comparison between man and money. What is money? Money can pay your shopping bills. But one needs more than that. A Biblical quote sums it up very well: “Man cannot live by bread alone.” This applies very much to money, for “Man cannot live by money alone.” Money can fulfil your physical requirements, but you are more than a physical entity; you have a mind, you have emotions, you have spiritual desires, and this part of your personality requires a person like you, one who can smile with you, have intellectual exchanges with you and share your emotions. If money satisfies less than 1% of your personality, another human being satisfies more than 99% of your personality. Everyone is quite aware of this. Then why are people attracted to money rather than to cementing relationships? The reason is very simple. With money, you can make contact on unilateral basis, but with human beings, you have to make contact on a bilateral basis, that is, on a give and take basis. This is perhaps the reason why people show a preference for money over man. But this choice is an unnatural one. Those who opt for money develop a duality in their personality. They develop double standards. You may opt for single living, but you cannot afford to be single in the greater life of the outside world. In your job, in your profession, business, everywhere—you have to deal with others. In these areas, you have to adopt that bilateral formula which you refuse to adopt on the home front. Everything exacts its price, and this is true of happiness, which requires you to accept another. If you accept another person, he will accept you. It is a law of nature. Nature is based on the principle of mutual acceptance.