Poverty is a term which simply means- the absence of these basic needs.
And many times we’re confused and disconnected when we try to understand wealth and poverty relationally. So here’s my simple explanation. Imagine a horizontal line. The line represents the minimum amount we need to live. We’ll call that line "Survival".
Now, do you live above or below the Survival line? How far above or below the line do you live? That’s a simple image to keep in your head.
Let’s put it into action. If you’re reading this, that means you are somewhat literate and that’s a pretty good indication that you’re above the line. And you might feel like saying, “Well yeah but just barely.” But to make our visual even simpler let me tell you, when you’re above the line it doesn’t matter how far above the line you are. You can be lower-class, middle-class, upper-class or even elitist-class and it doesn’t make a difference. It’s all above the line and no amount of distance above the line matters.
It’s when you’re below that line that everything matters. Every inch is life-threatening. So don’t think of poverty as a high-rise ghetto in South Chicago, that’s lower-class and it is inexcusably allowed in our society but, it’s mostly above Survival.
No, when addressing poverty we must think 3rd world refugee camps. Because poverty isn’t really the dirty child sitting on the grass at the freeway exit while their parent holds a sign asking for money. Poverty is a dirt field without streets or electricity where a parent holds their child who has already starved to death. That’s poverty. Got the perspective?
Now with that in mind, there is one place in all our lives where we all tremble in poverty. There is an area where we are all below the Survival line. A place where every person is born with less than the basic human need to survive. From the richest ruler who lays down to sleep in his plush satin bed, to the businessman who lays down with his wife in their 2 bedroom house, to the homeless city drunkard who lays down on a park bench, to a child asleep on the dirt floor of a hut; we all from birth live beneath this line. And every minute is a threat.
We are in a Spiritual Poverty. We are born in Spiritual Poverty like being born into a famine. We are born hungry, incomplete. Because our Spirit is a living, functioning part of our existence. But we are not born with enough of our own spirit to nourish itself and grow. And like any child who hungers without a daily amount of even minimal food, our spirit begins to starve and to weaken.
We as people are all equal in this poverty.
And somehow, instinctually we know this. It shows in the similar ways we all live. Because our whole lives can be defined as nothing more than a quest, seeking that which our spirit needs to survive. And just like a child starving in poverty we will search for and pick up and ingest anything we can to try to feed ourselves. And yes, spiritually, we’ll pick up just about anything.
Some people look for spiritual nourishment in romantic relationships with each other, some in material relationships like money and possessions, some in chemical relationships like alcohol or food and still others in religious relationships like church’s and rituals. If you’re anything like me you probably seek it in all these areas and even a few more.
We are continually being moved by the deepest demands within our hearts and minds as they groan; telling us that our two bare feet connected to this ground is not enough. There must be more. We are still incomplete. That’s why we struggle in our relationships. That is why we put crushing demands on our spouses and possessions and chemicals. We are essentially demanding them to love us more.
Because that’s the only nourishment our spirit truly needs, Love. And ultimately our spirit yearns to be loved continually. To be loved fully. To be loved unconditionally. To be loved overwhelmingly by something, anything, greater than ourselves.
This is what I see in myself and in everything around me as I experience the world and the people in it. As I ride my bike from home or from a café or from a church. I see it from a man in a Lexus driving past, to a woman waiting outside the local food bank, to two young lovers in each others arms under a tree in the park across the street. They, like me are all living with some sense of being incomplete; starving. And in that we are all in our own ways but, from the same Spiritual Poverty, reaching for God.
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