Cost

We tend to identify cost with money. However, actions have a cost. Ideas have a cost. Ethics have a cost.

 

Having it all is the quest of the modern materialist. Of course, there is no such thing, no matter how rich or pretty a person may be. Striving for wealth or fame has a great cost to a person's being. Doing nasty things to get rich corrupts the mind. Compromising a good sense of justice and fairness for personal gain has a cost. Sometimes these costs are not retrievable.

 

Relationships entail costs. A relationship with a pet entails a cost in time, attention and money. A relationship with a child should entail a great cost to the parents' needs in favor of the child's. Friendship, true friendship, entails costs of time, energy and emotional commitment.

 

This is an age of seeking gain over accepting cost. Capitalism preaches its profit gospel with a slant against the costs of quality of life for the many over the few. Good public schools cost a great deal, especially when they are expected to provide the same quality of education for every child. There is no immediate monetary gain from this cost.  The enhanced minds and skills of the students are the gain, which reveals itself socially over subsequent years. U.S. voters have lost sight of the value of this cost in favor of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy aristocracy they support.

 

Individual practice entails costs. Time must be spent exercising, assessing proper diet, reading, meditating, reflecting, interacting meaningfully with others. What is more valuable in a mortal life than the cost of time? Expending a cost in time on personal development of consciousness and compassion  is perhaps the most worthwhile spending a human being can do. It often does not bring any financial return. However, it does bring increased quality of life for the practitioner and his/her environment.