Idealism, Nobility of Soul, VIII – Money Is No Obstacle

Enthusiastic and heroic dynamism can only be expected of men stimulated by a legitimate desire for profit and considerable ascension. [Folha de S. Paulo, Nov. 28, 1971]

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira  

 

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St. Mary Magdalene wept at Our Lord’s feet and washed them with precious oils and her tears of repentance for her past life (Lk 7:36-50). The meal at Simon’s house, by Philippe de Champaigne (1602-1674)

 

In This Chapter

Many people erroneously believe that the idealist lives outside of reality and faces the specter of financial failure.
They warn: “If you want to be idealistic, renounce any desire to make money; be prepared to be fooled by the first smart-alec and die in misery.”
But the Author believes a true idealist does not despise money on principle: evil is not in wealth but in one’s attachment to it, just as a drunkard’s evil is in him rather than in the precious wine with which he becomes intoxicated.
If evil is not in money, the idealist may desire it within the bounds established by Christian morality.

 

A Drunkard’s Evil Is in Him, Not in Wine
The Gospel recommends detachment from earthly goods. This does not mean that man should avoid them but only use them with superiority, strength of soul and Christian temperance instead of being enslaved by them.
When man does not behave in this way and misuses such goods the evil is not in them but in him.
Thus, for example, a drunkard’s evil is in him, not the precious wine intoxicating him. This is so much so that many people drink wines of the highest quality but do not abuse them.
The same can be said of other goods.
For example, the fact that music has undergone many abominable distortions in times of decadence is not a reason to renounce it on the pretext that it corrupts. It is necessary to make good music, the best music, and use it for the good. [Agrarian Reform, a Question of Conscience, op. cit, p. 83 ff.]
One of the advantages of a harmonious inequality of property is to allow the higher classes to attain a particularly splendid flowering of the arts, culture, courtesy etc., which then radiates to the whole social body. [Agrarian Reform, a Question of Conscience, op. cit, p. 83 ff.]
Cuba is a rotten enterprise because it lacks owners and the stimulus to increase individual gain. The Island’s whole production mechanism is under a huge pyramid of underpaid civil servants with no possibility of enriching.
And you cannot ask a public official – particularly in such conditions – more than merely being correct.
Enthusiastic and heroic dynamism can only be expected of men stimulated by a legitimate desire for profit and considerable ascension. [Folha de S. Paulo, 28-11-71]
It would be stupid to see commensurable and legitimate individual profit as detrimental to the common good. Compare this legitimate and profitable position with the enthusiasm of penniless young people [TFP members] fighting for [preserving the institution of private] property while remaining penniless. It is not true that they carry out an epic struggle?
These young people who live only for an ideal have been touched by the word of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “Man liveth not by bread alone but by every word of God.” [Folha de S. Paulo,  20-9-70]

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Above, caravanists from the Brazilian TFP who traveled the country from North to South

Owning the Panorama
A writer took another to see a village from the top of a mountain and told him: “That house belongs to so and son, the other to so and so.”
The other writer asked: “What about yours? Where is it located?”
He answered: “I own none; I only have the panorama.”
Having the panorama is much more than owning houses because the person owns enlevo [admiring enthusiasm].
One admires the panorama without individual gain for the sole disinterested pleasure of admiring it for what it is. [On 5/27/1967]
Improving: A Necessity
Tending to improve is inherent to everything that has life.
The first ascent to which everyone should strive is spiritual and intellectual. Thus, as man lives, he should grow in virtue and intelligence.
At the same time, an upright desire is born in him to introduce more decorum and well-being in his life. Through work he acquires the economic means to that end. And with the rise of his personal level and of the ambience in which he lives, his social stand also grows.
There are times when man, searching for livelihood, finds open roads to fortune. His material situation improves. But he must feel a desire to bring himself up to the level of the social stand he longs for by elevating himself and his own in virtue and culture, which serve as more precious and respectable bases than the mere possession of treasure.
No envy is involved in this action because he has no regret for what others have. Nor is there pride because he does not want more than he deserves.
As his merits grow, so do his possessions. And if he owns more, he is careful to elevate himself to the level of what he owns.
Upward mobility in history is slow, profound and fertile. It is usually transmitted from father to son and this is how families gradually rise. [Agrarian Reform, a Question of Conscience, op. cit, p. 84]
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