The evolution of wisdom
No one thinks alone. Pick a question and follow it forward: the text that asked it first, the traditions that reached for it again centuries later and half a world away, and the people answering it now.
Money
“When did your relationship with money change? What happened, and what do you do differently now?”
What it buys, what it costs, what it can't do.
- ~10th c. BCE – 1st c. CE
Hebrew & Christian Bible
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, the Sermon on the Mount, and the parables. Foundational to Western moral language.
“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.”
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be als…”
- ~8th c. BCE – 4th c. CE
Hinduism
Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads — dialogues on duty, action, and self.
“The sacrifice which Knowledge pays is better than great gifts Offered by wealth, since gifts' worth--O my Prince!-- Lies in the mind which gives, the will that serves.”
Krishna compares the inner sacrifice of knowledge and intention to mere material giving.
↓ Reached for again — Buddhism, ~5th c. BCE onward49% resonance“Whatever a man sacrifice in this world as an offering or as an oblation for a whole year in order to gain merit, the whole of it is not worth a quarter (a farthing); reverence shown to the righteous is better.”
“Ensnared / In nooses of a hundred idle hopes, / Slaves to their passion and their wrath, they buy / Wealth with base deeds, to glut hot appetites.”
Krishna describes those consumed by desire and anger, who pursue wealth through corrupt means.
↓ Reached for again — Qur’an, 7th c. CE57% resonance“THE DESIRE of increasing riches occupieth you, Till ye come to the grave.”
- ~6th – 4th c. BCE
Taoism
Tao Te Ching, attributed to Laozi — terse, paradoxical aphorisms on living with the grain of things.
“They shall wear elegant and ornamented robes, carry a sharp sword at their girdle, pamper themselves in eating and drinking, and have a superabundance of property and wealth;--such (princes) may be called robbers and boasters. This is contrary to the Tao surely!”
Laozi condemns rulers who live in luxury while their people suffer from empty granaries and neglected fields.
“It is the Way of Heaven to diminish superabundance, and to supplement deficiency. It is not so with the way of man. He takes away from those who have not enough to add to his own superabundance.”
Laozi contrasts the natural balance of the Tao with the exploitative habits of human rulers and the wealthy.
- ~5th c. BCE onward
Buddhism
Dhammapada and selected sutras — terse, principle-rich verses on suffering, attachment, and right action.
“"One is the road that leads to wealth, another the road that leads to Nirvana;" if the Bhikshu, the disciple of Buddha, has learnt this, he will not yearn for honour, he will strive after separation from the world.”
A Bhikshu is a Buddhist monk; Nirvana here means liberation from suffering and desire.
“There is no satisfying lusts, even by a shower of gold pieces; he who knows that lusts have a short taste and cause pain, he is wise.”
↓ Reached for again — Stoicism, 3rd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE51% resonance“It is high time for thee, to understand that there is somewhat in thee, better and more divine than either thy passions, or thy sensual appetites and affections. What is now the object of my mind, is it fear, or suspicio…”
- ~5th c. BCE
Confucianism
Analects of Confucius — sayings on conduct, governance, and moral cultivation.
“To be poor without murmuring is difficult. To be rich without being proud is easy.”
↓ Reached for again — Qur’an, 7th c. CE46% resonance“And strain not thine eye after what We have bestowed on divers of them-the braveries of this world-that we may thereby prove them. The portion which thy Lord will give, is better and more lasting.”
“Riches and honours are what men desire. If it cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not be held. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike. If it cannot be avoided in the proper way, they should not be avoided.”
↓ Reached for again — Rabbinic Judaism, ~3rd c. CE52% resonance“Envy, lust and [the desire for] honor put a man out of the world.”
- 3rd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE
Stoicism
Greco-Roman school of practical philosophy on virtue, agency, and acceptance. Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca.
“A man might have applied that to him, which is recorded of Socrates, that he knew how to want, and to enjoy those things, in the want whereof, most men show themselves weak; and in the fruition, intemperate: but to hold out firm and constant, and to keep within the compass of true moderation and sobriety in either esta…”
Aurelius praises his adoptive father Antoninus Pius by comparing his temperance to that of Socrates.
“Never esteem of anything as profitable, which shall ever constrain thee either to break thy faith, or to lose thy modesty; to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to dissemble, to lust after anything, that requireth the secret of walls or veils.”
↓ Reached for again — Rabbinic Judaism, ~3rd c. CE53% resonance“Do not despise any man, and do not discriminate against anything, for there is no man that has not his hour, and there is no thing that has not its place.”
- ~3rd c. CE
Rabbinic Judaism
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) — concise principles for living, distilled from the early rabbinic period.
“He that borrows from man is as one who borrows from God, blessed be He, as it is said, 'the wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous deal graciously and give.'”
Rabbi Shimon, answering which evil way a person should shun, singles out borrowing without repaying.
↓ Reached for again — Qur’an, 7th c. CE52% resonance“And of whose substance there is a due and stated portion For him who asketh, and for him who is ashamed to beg.”
“There are four types of charity givers. He who wishes to give, but that others should not give: his eye is evil to that which belongs to others; He who wishes that others should give, but that he himself should not give: his eye is evil towards that which is his own; He who desires that he himself should give, and that…”
↓ Reached for again — Qur’an, 7th c. CE52% resonance“Who giveth away his substance that he may become pure; And who offereth not favours to any one for the sake of recompense, But only as seeking the face of his Lord the Most High.”
- 7th c. CE
Qur’an
Central scripture of Islam. Ethical teachings, parables, and prophetic narratives.
“Woe to every Backbiter, Defamer! Who amasseth wealth and storeth it against the future! He thinketh surely that his wealth shall be with him for ever.”
A sharp warning against those who slander others and hoard wealth, imagining money to be a permanent protection.
“THE DESIRE of increasing riches occupieth you, Till ye come to the grave.”
The surah opens with a stark observation about how the pursuit of wealth consumes a human life until death.
- Now
Living voices
The same question, answered by people who are still working it out.
Nobody has added to this thread yet. It could be you.