The Wages of Life
On the Rewards We Earn
For many people, salary is a symbol of status and a measure of opportunity. The higher the pay, the more one can afford. Money opens doors and expands possibilities. But what is its real value? What is it truly for?
Some parents encourage their children to work by rewarding them with money or material things. Others, seeing their child’s diligence and joy in effort, gladly buy whatever the child desires. The universe interacts with us in a similar way. When we fulfil our duty, do not give in to laziness, and are always ready to take up new work, we receive everything we truly need. But if we have little inner motivation and are moved to act only by money, we find ourselves in a world where money decides everything.
Some people are unaware that there is another way to obtain what they need and desire. Yet as soon as we pay attention, it becomes evident that a great many of life’s blessings — even material ones — come to us without the mediation of money.
The word “salary” derives from the Latin salarium, meaning “payment for service.” Behind this simple notion lies a universal idea: receiving something according to one’s deeds. A salary, therefore, may be understood not only as money earned for work, but in a much broader sense. In different contexts, it may serve as a synonym for reward, recompense, or gratitude.
Likewise, the word “fate” — when understood as a particular inevitable event in our life, or a sequence of such events — expresses essentially the same idea as “salary,” only in a wider perspective. Through this comparison of salary and destiny, the mechanism of karma, fate, destiny, blessing, or good fortune may become clearer. All these notions, referring to the unexpected or unavoidable turns of life, are nothing other than the wages we have earned through our actions, words, and thoughts.
What examples of material and immaterial “wages” can you recall?
Have there been moments when you failed to notice your “payment,” only to recognize it later?
On Opportunities without Money
First of all, it should be emphasized that money is not a panacea. Its efficiency — one might say its “coefficient of usefulness” — is far from constant. Beyond the obvious difference in the cost of things, there is also a difference in our real need for them and in the degree to which they can be assimilated or used. In other words, the proportion of what is truly useful in the things we purchase is not directly related to their price. The price expressed in money is highly conventional. Even a large amount of money does not guarantee the fulfilment of desire, and some desires are independent of money altogether.
Continuing this line of thought, we may add that many of life’s blessings, including material ones, come to us entirely without financial cost — yet this is seldom noticed, and even more rarely appreciated.
The wealthy know well that “connections decide everything” and that “opportunities come through people.” The example of those who satisfy their needs and wishes through an abundance of money often blinds others to the simple truth that, as the saying goes, “all that is truly necessary is given to us freely.” Even certain fundamental notions that we usually associate with money, in fact, have nothing to do with it. For instance:
- Poverty means being in trouble or distress; even the wealthy may be poor in this sense.
- Need refers to that which one lacks, regardless of what one possesses or how much.
- Sufficiency is having enough of what one already has — the absence of want, whether one’s possessions are great or small.
- Wealth is the state of being in harmony with one’s divine nature — being filled with God,[1] and thus truly wealthy.
How often, in your own life, have opportunities come without money?
How often — and how vividly — have you experienced need, sufficiency, and wealth?
On Desire and Passion
Conversations and thoughts about a good salary usually follow a desire for something. We wish to buy, to travel, to renovate our home — and in order to fulfil these wishes, we begin to long for a higher salary. Thus, desire itself becomes an essential idea in any discussion about earnings. Let us pause to reflect on it.
By desire we mean an attraction toward something — a movement of the will to obtain or accomplish it. When that desire becomes irresistible and uncontrolled, it turns into passion. Living in an age dominated by the senses, we most often understand passion in the context of sensual experience. Yet, in a broader sense, the concept embraces every sphere of our being. It begins with the irresistible thirst for life itself (tanha), includes the obsession with ideas and thoughts, gives rise to sensual aspirations, and extends even to the craving for objects, comfort, and other thoroughly earthly things.
An unrestrained striving for the good of all makes a person a saint — a bearer of light and a benefactor of humankind.
An unrestrained striving for the satisfaction of personal desires and ambitions turns one into a sorcerer or a black magician.
In both cases, we receive what we strive for; but along with it, we also receive everything that accompanies our striving. It is not always what we intended — and often includes what we never expected.
Thus, a saint may acquire certain supernormal abilities — such as walking on water, levitation, or reading thoughts — which he neither sought nor desired, yet which arise naturally as the result of his aspiration and inner discipline. Whether he wishes to possess or use them is of little importance; they simply manifest as a by-product of his spiritual labour.
The same occurs with the sorcerer. He, too, receives what he strives for — certain knowledge or powers — but along with them he incurs karmic debts.
Therefore, the consequences of either gratifying or restraining desire must be considered from both short-term and long-term perspectives, setting one’s priorities and remembering the sequence that every decision calls into being:
In the context of “the wages of life,” the difference between a saint and a sorcerer is the same as that between a salary earned after work and a loan taken before the work is done. In the latter case, we obtain certain benefits, yet must still repay them. The former path is patient fulfillment of one’s duty; the latter, impatience in pursuing the desired. From this distinction arise corresponding motives — and, inevitably, corresponding modes of action.
What are your thoughts on financial credit and the credit of life?
And how does unrestrained desire affect one’s destiny?
On What We Demand from Fate and the Idea of Sacrifice
It often happens that we demand something from fate, expecting our wishes to be fulfilled. This striving to obtain what we desire seems to have accompanied humanity since the dawn of its conscious existence. As people reflected on how their dreams might come true, their thinking gradually expanded toward broader questions: How is the world itself arranged in relation to the fulfillment of dreams? Are there laws that govern this process, or is it merely a matter of chance — the arbitrary play of external circumstances? And to what extent do those external factors harmonize with our inner processes, with our thoughts, feelings, and states of mind
Perhaps it was through such reflections that humankind arrived at the very notions of fate, destiny, and karma — as well as at moral ideas such as responsibility, justice, etc. Somewhere in the distant past, a realization arose: everything in the universe is interconnected; every action calls forth a response from the world; something in it always shifts. And if one understands the finer points of this interconnection, one can consciously perform the right actions and thereby evoke the desired consequences.
This universal law operates on every plane of our existence. In this way humanity came to the idea of sacrifice: that in order to receive something definite, one must also give up something definite. Everything has its price.
What is your view of sacrifice?
How does the universe respond to our requests?
How do external circumstances harmonize with our inner processes — our thoughts, feelings, and states of mind?
What examples have you encountered of responsibility born from desire?
On the Benefits We Receive and Their Deeper Meaning
Just as our salary at work is eventually spent, so it is on a larger scale: the favourable conditions we have earned — pleasant meetings, fortunate circumstances, and other blessings — are also gradually exhausted. If our good deeds are not replenished, we cannot expect good fortune to continue in the future.
Yet our relationship with life should not be viewed as a commercial enterprise based on the logic of “give and receive.” Although the law of balance unfailingly restores equilibrium and justice, there is something beyond mere accounting. A utilitarian approach to life — seeking benefit in every event — may help us understand its mechanics, but it cannot reveal its meaning, our personal and individual purpose — what we are designed for in the great scheme of life — or the ultimate goal of existence.
Sooner or later, every person comes to these questions. Eventually, one is no longer satisfied with knowing how life works, how to achieve a desired result, or how to obtain certain blessings. The deeper question arises: Why all this? What is its purpose? What is its meaning?
Since life is an endless process, such questions remain, in essence, always open. Yet from time to time, clear answers may emerge. Both the presence and the absence of blessings can play a positive or negative role in our development. For instance:
- Need compels us to do what is necessary and right, thereby strengthening the will.
- Luxury inclines us toward idleness and indulgence of the lower nature, fostering submissiveness to desire.
How do you view the usefulness and meaning of the blessings that come into your life?
On Gratitude to Fate
Why are some people rarely grateful to fate for what they have? Why do they fail to notice the good?
Our desires artificially expand the list of what seems necessary. Yet the economy of the universe was never designed to cover the new “expenses” proposed by our imagination. As a result, much of this list remains unmet — and we become disappointed or even resentful. At the same time, we often receive what we never asked for or even thought of, but our preoccupation with the former often prevents us from seeing the latter.
To awaken gratitude toward fate, it is enough to compare our life with the lives of those in extreme need. Folk wisdom says: “If you feel miserable, find someone who suffers more and help them.” This is a universal remedy for depression, melancholy, sorrow, and other such afflictions.
Humanity today mostly thinks in concrete, material terms and finds it difficult to contemplate what cannot be shaped into familiar forms. This also applies to the feeling of gratitude. It is fairly easy for us to find something for which we can thank a particular person — even someone we dislike or regard as an adversary. But it is much harder to be grateful to fate itself. For this is not a matter of recognizing a single good deed and expressing thanks for it; it is a transformation of consciousness, a change in one’s inner sense of life.
Gratitude to fate brings the realization that someone constantly cares for you, that benevolent forces constantly wish you well, seek to make your life better, and guide you toward growth.
What can help you cultivate a sense of gratitude toward fate?
Have you ever felt the care of an unseen well-wisher or guardian?
On the Levels of Life’s Wages
We receive our “salary” on every plane of being:
- On the physical plane — in the form of money, material goods, and comforts.
- On the sensory plane — compassion and hatred return to us through the same feelings we send out.
- On the mental plane — for our intensified efforts in thought we are rewarded with insight and discovery.
- On the spiritual plane — our striving returns as supernormal powers, a sense of harmony, and blessedness.
Wherever we labour, there we receive our wages.
What examples could you offer for each of these levels?
Conclusion
In conclusion, let us once more look from a distance at our relationship with life — with fate itself. What kind of relationship is it? What do we give, and what do we receive in return? The saying “nothing is given for free” applies not so much to money as to labour. Money is but a particular way of measuring effort — only one means of accounting for it. Yet our relations with destiny are far broader and deeper. The favourable conditions of life must be earned through work, and every kind of work is compensated; we always receive our wages.
Some people, inclined to hasty judgments, might take offense at the very theme of our round-table discussion, dismissing it as too down-to-earth or irrelevant to spiritual growth. But as we have seen today, the application of the law of analogy can greatly deepen our understanding of any subject, if we are not afraid to interpret symbols and concepts in their widest sense — which is precisely what Theosophy teaches us to do.
Footnotes
- ↑ The Russian word for wealth is богатство (bogatstvo), which has a root бог – god.