We human programs cannot get our souls into Heaven if we are overcome by the corrupting errors of Pride, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Anger, Lust, and Sloth. We must overwrite them with their opposites, Humility, Love of neighbor, Generosity, Self-sacrifice, Peace, Self Control, and Good works.
Rich people are an amazingly important part of The Creation Program’s self-weeding aspect. Rich people are necessary for two reasons:
1. Wealth allows the destructive viruses of Pride, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Anger, Lust, and Sloth to operate. Those who have accumulated wealth are tempted at every turn to think they’re better than they are. While Dante did not tell us the ratio of rich to poor in Heaven, he did let us know that a great many who were rich and powerful on earth suffered endlessly in hell.
It is obvious that the wealthy are tempted to destroy their own souls by self-gratification. Each rich person is tested to see if they value the accumulation of things more than obeying God. We should pray that they get and use what they have in ways that are pleasing enough to God that they can get into Heaven.
2. The rich are necessary for another reason. Their existence is a test for the billions who aren’t so prosperous. Envying a tiny percentage of “rich people” causes many billions of poorer people to hate, rather than love, their neighbors. The rich are there to let those who are too overwhelmed by envy to love their neighbors send themselves to perdition.
The certitude of unequal gain was written into The Creation Program. Wealth makes some who have it think they’re too good to love their neighbors, causing them to lose their souls. Envy causes billions of the less prosperous to lose their souls because they hate those who have more.
Rich people are an important part of the self-weeding nature of our garden in The Creation Program. The rich will determine where they spend eternity by how they gain and use their wealth. The vast masses of the poor will determine where they spend eternity by whether or not they can overcome their envy of those few neighbors. The Program thereby shows its remarkable efficiency.
