What does it mean to Live a Rich Life?
Does Living a Rich Life mean that I am wealthy?
The Four Domains of Wealth
Cultivating a Rich Life

 
 
What does it mean to live a Rich Life?   (^ top)

Living a rich life means living a heart-felt life marked by joy, ease, and satisfaction. It means experiencing the integrated nature of our human existence, bringing together personal effectiveness, physical well-being, emotional fulfillment, mental clarity, and spiritual enrichment.

The concept of living a rich life is based in integral philosophy – an emerging worldview based in Eastern philosophy, Western psychological theories, the world's wisdom traditions and the new sciences. In this view, our lives are multi-dimensional and part of a larger whole. We are comprised of an interconnected mind, body and spirit.

The idea of interconnection is foreign to many of us. We tend to live fragmented lives, divided into our work life and our personal life, professional relationships and family relationships, things we do to make money and things we do to relax.

The plight of “multi-modal living” plagues many at this time in our cultural development. Many of us, due to economic circumstances, for reasons of higher values, or because of a conflict between the two, choose “portfolio careers,” making a living through more than one profession, and perhaps find ourselves living “portfolio lives,” fulfilling material needs through work and spiritual needs elsewhere. For most families, it has become necessary to have dual career parents (if there are two parents), leaving less and less time for quality home life. Time for reflection and introspection are placed low on the priority list because there is little time left over after the management of daily living, leaving people exhausted and depleted.

Living a rich life is the practice of seeing one’s life as an integrated whole, making decisions from a holistic perspective. If we make decisions based solely on financial gain, what happens to our health, our emotions, our family life? If we focus only on how we feel, how do we deal with the practical necessities of life?

To live a rich life means that we learn to transform our dilemmas by transforming the way we see them. Integrating the knowledge and wisdom of our intellect, the power of our emotions, the instinctiveness of our bodies, and the clarity of our spiritual insight, we make choices, take actions, and do the best we can with the options presented to us in life. We learn to respond to our innate desire to feel whole.

  
Does living a rich life mean that I am wealthy?   (^ top)

Yes, but not necessarily in the way it is commonly perceived. To be rich means to possess material wealth, but here we are speaking of more than material wealth. A rich life is a life with a soul, with meaning. Rich means complex, multi-textured, alive. Possessing an abundance of material goods is not the only measure of a rich life. In a rich life, wealth means that we feel a welling up of good will towards life. In this way, we are truly wealthy. In living a rich life, we develop four kinds of wealth: financial, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Seeing our lives as an integrated whole, let us look at the parts that comprise the whole.

  
The Four Domains of Wealth   (^ top)

The Merchant: Financial Wealth

It is unlikely that we will live peacefully in this culture unless we seriously address questions of money – how we make it, how much we make, how we manage it, how we keep ahead of inflation, etc. The Merchant part of our lives includes money, our work or career, financial management and planning, as well as our competency in the world. We often identify with this aspect of our lives believing that is all there is.

The central question we need to answer regarding financial wealth is, “How much?” The quality we need to cultivate in this area is integrity.


The Philosopher: Intellectual Wealth

Intellectual wealth refers to knowledge, information and learning and it also refers to how we develop our mental resources to work for us in a positive way. We can use our mind to fixate on the same thoughts, perceptions and opinions or we can develop critical thinking skills which open new ways of thinking, taking us beyond our comfortable yet limited ways of knowing. We can use the natural curiosity of the mind to explore new domains of thinking and we can use the innate cleverness of mind to solve problems and reduce our suffering. The mind is infinitely creative. A healthy mind seeks what is true in any situation. The central question for intellectual wealth is, “What is true?” The quality we cultivate is curiosity.


The Healer: Physical/Emotional Wealth

It is easy to become so busy and preoccupied with our daily affairs that we fail to notice how we are doing physically and emotionally. Physical wealth is having a plentiful supply of energy and physical stamina to support us in achieving our goals. Emotional wealth is having a support network where we can be open with our feelings and be connected with others in meaningful ways. The core question for physical/emotional wealth is, “How are you?” This applies to us and to others. The quality we cultivate in this domain is vitality.


The Mystic: Spiritual Wealth

In a simple way, we can say that “spiritual” refers to anything not material but it is more than this. It is the domain of meaning and what has ultimate value to us. This is a highly subjective domain and can be explored in any number of ways. One place to begin is to be curious about our lives. What are we really trying to do here? What is the legacy we want to leave behind? If I am not what I do for a living, then who am I? This is the key question of spiritual wealth. The quality we cultivate is peace.

The Heart of Humanness

At the center of these four domains is the heart of humanness, our wisdom. What this means is that at the core of our being is our innate knowing, our common sense. Many of us become human “doings” instead of human “beings.” To learn to ground ourselves in our true human condition means that we that we are willing to struggle with what it means to be truly alive. How can we be financially successful without cutting off our emotions? How can we live within our spiritual values without compromising our success? How can we can we use our ability to be reasonable without ignoring the feelings of others? It is only by cultivating the heart of humanness that we can transcend these dilemmas.

 
 Cultivating a Rich Life   (^ top)

1. A Rich Life is cultivated, not learned. It is an alchemical process. It is a product of consensus among all the parts of ourselves.

2. It is an individual discovery; the same prescription does not work for everyone just like optical corrective lenses do not. Each prescription for living a rich life is different and changes at various times in one’s life.

3. It takes tilling the soil and nurturing the growth of the soul, or spirit in your life. Soul work is different from the pursuit of happiness. It is the hero’s journey. It is learning to live in one’s own skin.

4. It requires adopting a point of view, an integral view, which transcends either/or thinking.